Home
by Cyberdrew
Summary: Lincoln had been separated from his family at a young age, and forced to grow up in a less than healthy environment. A chance encounter allowed him to reunite with his family. Now he has to readjust to this new life with these strange new people.
1. Chapter 1

"Where the hell is it!?"

Lincoln hastened his movements, stuffing the bag with whatever he could.

"Where is he!?" the voice bellowed. "That little…"

The voice trailed off, and the young boy knew it would be no time at all before they reached upstairs. He zipped up the bag and slung it over his shoulder, moving to the window in one swift movement. The window, opened in anticipation for this moment, provided Lincoln with an escape.

He had planned it all well enough. The back gate in the alleyway, the fire escape, the window's broken lock. The…_small_ fire in the kitchen so his foster dad and step brother would be too busy to stop him and beat him.

He could hear the door to his bedroom fling open as his shoes hit the pavement. His bag was filled with some essentials. A single pair of socks, pants, underwear, and a shirt, packed next to some granola bars and a jar of peanut butter. And... a lighter. For emergencies.

"Where'd you go you little monster?!"

Lincoln paused to look back up to his room, he was by the back gate: two more steps and around the corner, and he'd be out of sight in the middle of the night.

"You get back here and look at what you did!" the man called out to him.

Lincoln ignored him, defying him one final time before walking out to the sidewalk. He had no intention of ever returning to that awful place.

He had no solid plan for the night. He hadn't really thought beyond "Get away from there." But he was out now. Surely this is better than living with Greg and Candy, his foster father and mother respectively.

"It's gotta be better out here," he told himself, "Better than there."

He trudged through the late neighborhood, but without a real destination in mind, he found himself at a school playground some miles away from home. The school to which the playground was attached to wasn't familiar to him. He didn't even go here, it just seemed like a good place to think.

He rested his feet on the bench by the gate. He closed his eyes and tried everything in his power to remember. Surely there was something in his memories that would allude him to his real family. His real parents. The way he was able to piece it together, he got separated from them when he was around two years old. After that, the orphanage. Then came the foster parents. His white hair was quite the eye catcher in the orphanage, to both parents and bullies alike. The bullies would find him first, though, and searching parents aren't looking for a kid who gets into a lot of fights, so he never got adopted at first.

Then came those people. Lincoln wasn't sure how, but they could tell he wasn't a real fighter. They adopted him for tax reductions. There're about six or seven other foster kids in that house with two lazy parents, and a bully for a step-brother. With the parents constantly checking on all of them so they don't go anywhere, it was a miracle Lincoln escaped at all.

Lincoln rubbed the back of his neck and looked down at the mulch under his feet.

"No good," he shook his head, unable to come up with any ideas. "Nothing."

"You, ah... you lost, bud?"

Lincoln jolted in his seat and turned to see a Police officer had snuck up on him. He was casually leaning against the fence next to him on the other side. There was another officer standing on Lincoln's other side, looking more ready to jump the fence if he bolted.

Lincoln lowered his head, "No."

"You sure?" the first officer offered. "We can take you home, if you need it."

Lincoln felt another jolt run his spine, as he faced the cop again.

"No!"

Lincoln blinked at his own outburst. The cop looked surprised too, and glanced at his partner.

"I mean," Lincoln clarified. "Please, don't. I can't go back home. I'll go to jail, or anywhere else, but please, _please_ don't send me back home."

The cop just looked at him and started to nod.

"Okay," he reached over and patted the boy's shoulder. "Alright. We'll help you out, bud, but you gotta come with us, it's getting ready to storm out here."

Lincoln agreed.

He couldn't tell how much time had passed, but he found himself sitting next to someone's desk in the police station. Someone had been kind enough to leave donuts for him. He had been nibbling on them one by one, until the box was eventually cleared out. He wasn't entirely sure what the cops were doing, but he had been here for at least an hour.

A woman cop approached him and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"How're you holding up, sweetie?" she asked him. He shrugged.

"I, uh," he coughed. "I just ate a whole box of donuts."

"Brag about it, why don't ya?" The woman laughed. Lincoln could help but giggle, himself. She turned serious.

"Honey," she told him, "We thought it be best to prepare you for this. Do you know where your parents are?"

Lincoln blinked. "No."

"Do you know their names?"

"No."

She just stared at him with a stern look. It was unbeknownst to him, but she just got off the phone with his biological parents. By chance, she found a missing children's file. The report would be "renewed" every year on the kid's birthday. The report would always be insistent on one thing. The kid had white hair.

Honestly, how many kids in the US (hell, even in the state) have genuine, natural white hair at birth?

The parents were from a small town some hours away from here. The couple must have called every station in the state. How it took this long to figure this out…

"Okay," she said, "I want you to hang tight, okay?"

"Okay…?"

He was forced to wait another hour, and his seat was getting sore against the hard chair. It may have actually been forty minutes, and it was encroaching on midnight. How do adults sit in these all day? That guy across the precinct hadn't moved since he got here. He got up just to stand for a change.

"Oh my god."

Lincoln turned, pausing in rubbing his backside as he saw a couple across the building. They were soaked to the bone from the storm outside. The woman had blond hair, wide hips, and tired eyes, like the woman hadn't slept well in a long time. The man with her had a pointy nose, and very little hair left on his head. He had a spare tire around his waist, hidden under his clothes. He looked just as tired as his wife, perhaps more so.

They approached the eleven year old, moving past the other officers, who all took a moment to stare at the scene. The stood before the boy, almost unblinking. The woman looked scared to speak.

"L-" she dared to try. "Lincoln?"

Lincoln blinked.

"…Yes?" he suspiciously answered.

"I'm Lynn Loud," the man said, his eyes starting to water. "This is my wife, Rita Loud. We're your parents, son."

Lincoln's eyes grew wide. He opened his mouth to utter a question, but it just came out as a dry rasping.

"H-how…?" he wheezed. "How do you know-?"

"Honey," the woman crouched to his level. She gave a hard sniffle as tears streamed down her cheeks. "We've been looking all over for you. You've been missing since you were two-years-old."

She reached out, her hands had callouses, but were cold, and gentle. Lincoln embraced the touch, as her thumbs ran over his cheeks.

"You look so handsome..." she spoke softly. "And you still have your freckles. It's like you never..."

She couldn't finish the sentence, as it turned into gross sobbing. She lunged forward and grappled Lincoln into a hug.

"My baby!" she sobbed softly into his shoulder, "My baby boy has been all alone for so long…"

Lincoln's arms were pinned to his sides. The man soon leaned down to wrap his arms around the two of them.

Could it really be this simple? This is the dream, right? That fairy tale the other orphan kids never talk about. That your real parents would show up, explain away everything, and take you to their castle in candyland, or something stupid like that. Right? There's no way this woman sobbing into his shoulder and kissing his cheek was his actual mother. It's got to be some kind of mistake, right?

Regardless of all of this, he was allowed to go with them. They drove a van all the way up here, and the thing looked ready to break down any minute. Rita sat in the back with Lincoln, and Lynn drove the whole way back.

Rita seemed reluctant to even let go of Lincoln's hand on the trip home. She just kept staring at him with a look he couldn't identify. He figured it was a long drive "home," he might as well ask some questions.

"You think I'm…your kid," he wondered.

"You are, honey," Rita insisted. "I know you are."

Lincoln remained unconvinced. "Okay," he said, "So why'd you abandon me? Where've you two been all my life?"

Lincoln saw the hurt in their eyes. Rita's were focused right at him, pushing out more tears. Lynn's were visible in the rearview mirror, which he may or may not have positioned to look at Lincoln.

"We didn't leave you, Lincoln," Rita told him. "You were taken from us."

Lincoln's eyebrows knitted together as she tried to explain.

"The police there explained that you were found in a car crash, with your name on a bracelet. They made assumptions, and they didn't suspect that you were a kidnapping victim."

"Wires got crossed," Lynn offered, "Not enough people talking to each other. I hate to say it, but it happens. We never stopped looking for you, son."

Lincoln looked down, looking at the tips of his shoes.

"You don't know what I've…" he was about to say, "been through," but the words died in his mouth. He was angry, but he couldn't be as mad as he wanted to.

Rita rubbed his back with sympathy. "I'm so sorry, baby," fresher tears still rolled down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry."

Lincoln stayed silent for a few minutes.

"Uh…" he hesitated to say it. The word was so foreign to him. "Mom?"

She smiled warmly and gazed down at him patiently, waiting for his question.

"Where are we going?" he asked her. "Where do you guys live?"

"Oh," Lynn answered for her, "A little ways away from the city. A small town called Royal Woods."

Lincoln blinked. He had never heard of it.

"You'll love it, sweetie," Rita kissed the top of his head. "I know you will."

She smiled more, like she just thought of something else.

"Your sisters do, anyway."

"Wait. Sisters?"


	2. Chapter 2

Lincoln stepped out of the van and tried to look around at the quiet neighborhood. It was two in the morning, and nothing about this place looked familiar to him. He thought it'd click in his head when he saw it, but there was nothing. The house and his neighbors were all cloaked in shadows, save for the street lamps, and the one room in this new home that had its light on.

"Well, here we are," Lynn told him. "This is our home."

It was hard to be excited about something when you're this exhausted. The anxiety of coming here had kept him up the whole ride, and now it was coming to a head with whatever was behind that door.

"Guess Lori couldn't sleep," Lynn observed.

One of his ten sisters, Lincoln guessed. He'd been told their names earlier, but his brain was so scrambled he could keep them straight in his mind. Ten girls... Are these people insane?

"You think the other kids…"

"No…" Lynn exaggerated the answer. "She wouldn't have. Maybe…"

"Come on Lincoln," Rita pushed him along, "Let's get you into bed."

They entered the house, and Lincoln's eyes wandered to the source of the light. The rest of the room was dark, and he couldn't make out too many details. A dining room area was illuminated by an overhead light, with an older teenage girl sitting at the head of the table. She stood and craned her neck to see the intruders, and stepped out to meet them.

"Lincoln," Rita introduced him, "This is your oldest sister, Lori."

Lincoln looked up at her, and she just… stared at him. She dropped to her knees and pulled him in so his chin was resting on her shoulder. He spotted Lynn stepping into another room for a moment.

"You've been gone so long…" Lori started to cry. "You've gotten so big!"

She pulled back and Lincoln could see her face better. She had a short but thick head of hair, and brown eyes. They were already red and puffy from crying.

"You're eleven now, aren't you?"

"Um… ten, actually."

"Oh my god," she hugged him again, squeezing tighter. "I was seven years old when you went missing!"

They stayed that way for a few minutes. Lincoln wasn't sure how to react. His arms eventually found their way to her back, pathetically returning the hug.

"Lori," Rita offered, "Perhaps we could pick this up in the morning. Would you mind lending Lincoln your bed for the night?"

"Yeah," Lori agreed, "I can sleep with Leni."

Lynn returned with an oversized t-shirt and handed it to Lincoln. He guessed that's his Pajamas for tonight. Lori took his hand and led him to the stairs, but the boy paused.

"Goodnight," he said, turning to his parents.

"Goodnight, Pumpkin."

"Goodnight, son. Welcome home."

Lincoln honestly doesn't remember much after that. He guessed that Lori led him to the room he was staying in, and he took a moment to get dressed in the bathroom, but his next memory was blinking away the sunlight pouring in through the window. He turned away from it, and came face to face with a shadow.

"Aah!" Lincoln flailed backwards, falling off the bed and tangling himself in the sheets. The noise was enough to disturb the form of his elder sister, sleeping in the bed across him. Hurried footsteps thumped out of the room, while Lori called after them.

"Lucy!" she called, "Stop being creepy!"

She stepped over and offered a hand to the boy to help him out of the mess. She looked away as the both of them realized he was in his underwear. The shirt would normally reach past his knees, but it had bunched up in the chaos.

"Why don't you take a shower," Lori coughed. "Before the others get up?"

Lincoln nodded and grabbed his bag. Seeing the room in the light for the first time; it looked… normal. It varied in shades of blue, with a large closet and a vanity mirror. The other girl in the room was stirring, and Lincoln hurried out and rushed to the bathroom.

With a sigh, he managed to figure out how to turn on the shower and stepped inside. The water pressure was lousy, but he didn't care about that. This whole house felt like a distant dream. Or a mirage. He was going to wake up in the apartment any minute now, and after listening to his foster parents argue for forty minutes, he'd consider walking off the roof for a minute before going about his day.

For now, though, this warm water felt heavenly. Wait, where's that cold breeze coming from?

Suddenly, the shower curtain was pulled back, and a naked girl was standing on the other side. It was only for a single second, and the girl pulled the curtain back over, screaming "Sorry, sorry, sorry!"

That was most definingly _not_ Lori. It was the girl she shared a room with, though Lincoln couldn't remember her name. Like he said, the curtain was pulled back for only a second, but he saw every detail she had. His face burned under the warm water.

"I didn't know someone was in here!" she proclaimed. There was a shuffling of clothes and a door being swung open and closed, then opened again.

"Lincoln?" Lori called, "You okay in here?"

"…Yeah," he managed.

"Leni came in?"

"…Yes."

"Sorry," she apologized, "I should have warned her. And you. She has her routines. I'm leaving a towel out here when your done. Take your time."

"Thank you…" Lincoln pulled the skin under his eyes. First day here and he sees his sister naked. _This is Michigan_, he told himself,_ not Alabama, so stop thinking about it!_

With effort, he managed to finish up his shower. The flower scented bodywash and shampoo weren't exactly what he was used to, but he walked out feeling the cleanest he had in a long time.

A fresh change of clothes later, he stepped out of the bathroom with Lori waiting outside.

"Hey," she greeted. "Lincoln. The others are waiting downstairs for us. Are you ready to meet them?"

"Uh…" Lincoln looked past her at the stairs. "They're all wearing clothes, right?"

Lori snorted, suppressing a giggle.

"Yes," she answered. "They very much are."

She walked behind him, to the stairs, the uproar quieted down as they heard someone descending down the stairs. Lincoln stepped into view and saw the crowd of girls surrounding their parents at the dining room table.

"Girls," Lynn introduced, "This is your brother, Lincoln. Let's try not to overwhelm him with-"

The girls descended on him like a pack of wolves. Most of them declared their joy in having him return, two just hugged his sides. One slapped a hand on his back with the friendliness of a wrecking ball. But every single one bombarded him with questions in singular, undecipherable shriek.

"Questions…" Lynn sighed, defeated.

"Girls, girls!" Lori rallied the teens and kids and put her arms out to keep them back. "Let him breathe! Let him eat!"

Lincoln was half deaf by the time they quieted down. The girls returned to their seats, one of the older ones caught his eye, looking slightly hurt. The younger ones looked at him with wide eyes, barely blinking. He turned his attention to the table, spotting the shadow from earlier. She appeared to not have moved since the initial assault.

"Sorry, Lincoln," Lori apologized again, whispering in his ear. "I know this can be overwhelming for… anyone. If you need a break, just let me know, okay?"

Lincoln nodded and took a deep breath. He took a seat towards the middle of the table. All eyes bore into him. Everyone else was wearing some sort of nightgown or sleep shirt.

Lori sat down next to him. To his left was the short haired brunette, and a girl with braces. To his right was Lori, her roommate- who still looked red in the face from their first encounter- and a baby in a high chair, who stared at him with the most intensity. Across the table, going from Lincoln's left to his right, was a girl who slept in a faded jersey, the shadow that woke him up, two girls who looked like twins, and a toddler with the thickest pair of glasses he had ever seen. The parents sat at opposite ends of the table.

Lynn came in from the kitchen and set down some trays and plates. Eggs, bacon, thin buttered toast, sausages, pancakes. It all hooked the boy by his nose and instantly made him drool.

"Alright kids," the father announced, "Dig in! I want to make sure everyone gets plenty!"

Lori grabbed his plate and leaned over the table. "Here," she offered, "I'll get some for you."

She loaded his plate with all the food items, while the other older girls worked on making plates for the younger ones. The baby got a bottle, and a significantly smaller plate of food bits than the others.

"Mommy," one of the twins asked, the one decked in pink. "When did Lincoln get born?"

She looked about six, Lincoln could forgive the question and the grammar.

"Well," Rita answered. "He was born on October 15th, 2005. He's ten years old now."

Lincoln munched as eyes on the table turned to him. He suddenly realized what Rita had said. October 15th. That's his birthday. He never knew when it was, and now he had it answered.

"Where's he been all this time?" the same girl asked.

"Has he ridden a hippo?" her twin bounced in her seat.

"Is he a fellow intellectual?" the pair of glasses asked.

"Does he play ball?" the jersey demanded. "I bet he plays ball."

"Nah, dude," the girl next to him flipped the hair on the back of his head, "You see this main he's got? He's a Rockstar, for sure!"

"Gahbdugah!" the baby chimed in.

"Girls!" Lynn pleaded. "Calm down!"

Lincoln cleared his throat and drank some orange juice. He should probably say something.

"Uh…" he started, "Answering all of those in order… I've been in a foster home. I've never ridden a hippo, but I have ridden a rhinoceros. I am an intellectual when compared to other people. I don't really play ball, it plays me. No, I am not a Rockstar. And no, I never kissed a girl."

The girls looked at each other before looking to Lincoln expectantly.

"That was her question," he pointed to the baby. "I thought you all heard."

The girl with braces started cackling behind her hands. The twins grinned, clearly amused.

"You're silly!" the second twin declared.

"Yeah," Lincoln agreed. "I'm silly."

"Why don't we go around and introduce each other?" Rita suggested, "So Lincoln knows all our names? Luna, you can start."

"Okay," the girl next to him began. "Spoiler alert, my name is Luna. I am… the _greatest_ Rockstar ever. Don't you forget it."

"Luna the Legend. Got it."

"I'm Luan," the next girl offered. "I'm a professional comedian and party clown."

"Professional," Luna rolled her eyes.

"That sounds great, Luan."

"I'm Lola!" the first twin announced. "I'm a princess, and I'm the prettiest, and I'm a pageant girl, and I'm patient, and I'm humble!"

"Duly noted. I'm humbled by Lola's humility."

"I'm Lana," the other twin offered. "I love animals! And fixing! And mud!"

"She's kind of a grease monkey," Lori explained. "Or, she wants to be."

"Nice," Lincoln nodded. "I go to you for my car troubles… As soon as I get a car."

Lana giggled.

"Thanks for skipping us," the sports girl snarled. "I'm Lynn." She jammed her thumb to her dad sitting next to her. "Junior."

"Athlete?" Lincoln guessed.

"Always," Lynn grinned.

"Right," Lincoln looked to the next girl. Who looked down. Her hair blocked a lot of her face. Lincoln watched a movie once with a girl crawling out of a well and out of the tv. He still had trouble sleeping when someone brings it up.

"Lucy," she managed to say. She didn't let on much else.

"It's nice to meet you, Lucy."

Some kids are shy. Lincoln couldn't hold it against her.

"I am Lisa," the toddler's glasses were adjusted on her face. "I am a four-year-old child prodigy."

"And smart too, by the sound of it," Lincoln joked.

"That is the definition of prodigy," Lisa deadpanned.

Luan seemed to be enjoying the banter.

"And our youngest addition here is Lily," Rita spoke on the baby's behalf. The baby cooed and giggled in response. "She's less than a year old. Isn't that right Lily?"

The baby babbled something unintelligible and looked back to Lincoln.

"Hi, Lily," Lincoln waved.

"Hi!" Lily grasped the air in his direction, effectively melting Lincoln's heart.

"Oh! Leni," Rita then said, "We didn't mean to skip you!"

"That's okay!" She cheerfully said. "Hi Lincoln! I'm Leni, and I love clothes!"

Lincoln's eyes flicked from Lori back to Leni. He couldn't help himself.

"I wouldn't have guessed."

Leni's face burned bright and she turned her head. Lori bit her lip to keep from laughing, but had to resort to clamping her hand over her mouth. Everyone looked to each other in confusion, not getting the reference.

"Alright," Rita rallied their attention. "Let's finish breakfast. We have some errands to run, and you kids have a day at the mall."

"Wait, what?"


	3. Chapter 3

The two parents drove the van and dropped the crowd off at the front doors of the mall. Lincoln stepped off and looked around. He spotted a group of skaters straight out of the nineties messing around and sitting on the sidewalk.

Lincoln made his way inside when his mother called out to him.

"Wait!" she said.

Lincoln watched as she trotted out of the car and walked over to him. She gave him a fierce hug and planted a kiss on top of his head.

"We're coming back in a couple of hours," she promised. "We'll see you later. We love you, okay?"

Lincoln nodded and watched as she hurried back to the car. The skaters were laughing and making kissy noises at Lincoln. His face burned and he rushed inside to join his sisters.

As he entered, he noticed that most of them have split into groups. The only ones left were Lori, holding onto Lily and Lisa, standing next to Leni.

"Hey Lincoln," Lori told him. "Why don't you let Leni take you shopping for clothes? If there's anyone who can help you find a style, its her."

Lincoln looked over to the girl, who just looked away and twisted her arms behind her.

"She's also really embarrassed about this morning," Lori added in a whisper. "So maybe don't tease her about it too much."

Lincoln nodded and walked over to Leni.

"So…" he said, "Where do we start?"

Leni flashed a smile and took his hand. "Over here!"

Lincoln groaned internally as she locked her hand onto his, but let it be. In all honesty, he enjoyed the contact.

He spotted a trinkets store, filled with bracelets and phone cases and other things the average thirteen year old would find interesting. Lincoln wasn't hungry yet, but he will be later.

They made their way to Macy's and blew past everything else to get to the kids and young teen section of the store. Leni dove into the racks of clothes, hunting for something Lincoln didn't fully understand. To him, if it fits, and you like it, you wear it.

Not to Leni.

"It needs to match, silly," she tells him. "there's a pattern to it. And there's so many styles and looks to try. Like these with-"

The girl may as well have been speaking in Latin. Lincoln sighed, and let his eyes wander around the store. He spotted a table covered in shirts with cartoon characters and sarcastic comments. He took a step towards the table when Leni stepped out in front of him arms filled with selected sets of shirts and pants.

"Try these on," She dumped the load into his arms. "The fitting rooms are over here."

She escorted to some hallway with thin wooden doors and left him to try on the clothes. Lincoln hadn't really looked at himself in the mirror recently. Mainly, because he never liked what he saw.

The reflection showed a scrawny, half-starved boy, with shaggy white hair that constantly got in his face and tickled the back of his neck. His white t-shirt had holes in the neckline, and the trim. His jeans had a hole big enough that he would often slip his leg through it when he wasn't paying attention. His black zipped up hoodie was two sizes too big, and he finally decided to fold the sleeves up his arms, so they'd stop sliding over his hands. Even his shoes were more duct tape than footwear.

He looked over to the brand-new clothes than invaded the bench. He needed this, more than he wanted to admit. Better yet, someone was _giving _him this. He could at least try it out.

And so, the process began. He would swap out one set of clothes with another and walk out of the fitting room to show Leni like it was a fashion show runway. Each combination brought a new statement.

"Hmm. Not flattering."

"Ugh. What was I thinking?"

"That looks… kind of nice."

"Ooh! Keep the jeans."

"Maybe that one…?"

Lincoln discarded the latest tunic in the fitting room. He sighed with exhaustion and looked over to the next shirt.

Oh, that's not even fair!

It was a collared, two-button shirt, colored in the same orange you'd put in a crayon box. This shirt, with his white hair?

Why yes, nothing would please him more than to become the embodiment of vanilla and orange sherbet ice-cream. Or a traffic cone. Or _candy corn_.

He took the neon stitched abomination and sighed again.

"Let's just get this over with."

He pulled it over his head and pulled it down over his body as he walked out into the store.

Leni looked at him critically, her gaze in a fixed state of concentration.

"…How does that one make you feel?"

"Like I'm in a construction zone," he answered. Leni tilted her head in confusion. Lincoln fought the urge to roll his eyes. "Stupid," he clarified, "Why?"

"Wait here," she instructed. She turned and dived back into the racks like a leopard seal diving into the sea, on the prowl.

They watched a cool documentary at school. It was one of Lincoln's happier days.

She came back with seemingly the same colored shirt.

"Try this," she instructed.

Lincoln sighed and pulled the tunic he had off and replaced it with the newer one she'd given him. He looked at the nearby mirror at the entrance of the fitting room and noticed something… different. The brightly colored obnoxiousness was… a little less obnoxious. It turned from cartoon pumpkin orange to…

"This is a sunset orange," Leni explained to him. "Much easier on the eyes than other colors. So… What do you think?"

Lincoln blinked, before turning to the older girl.

"I think… I like it," he answered honestly. She jumped up and down giddily.

"Oh…! That's so great! It looks really good on you!" She shooed him back to the stalls. "Take those clothes off so I can buy them! You're walking out of here in those and a new pair of shoes!"

It took significantly less time to find a nice pair of shoes, but they managed to find them, along with pajamas, socks, and underwear.

"Don't be embarrassed," Leni whispered as they walked to the register. "Everybody needs new underwear from time to time."

"Yeah, I know," Lincoln still shrunk in his jacket.

The cashier, bored out of his mind, finished scanning all the items.

"Will that be all for you… miss?" He sounded like he was familiar with her.

"Yes," she answered patiently, "And I have these."

She pulled a stack of coupons like a thug would pull out a stack of hundreds. Then she pulled out a credit card. The cashier sighed so much in a single breath; Lincoln was convinced he sucked in air from his anus to breathe that hard.

They finished paying and Leni insisted he go back into the fitting room to change. He followed instructions, changing into his orange shirt, jeans, and white shoes. He walked out feeling like a new man.

"Very handsome!" Leni greeted him. "Here. Put your old stuff in this bag."

They walked out of the store, with Leni appearing happier than Lincoln felt.

"Let's go find the others!" she suggested. "Before all these bags cut off circulation to my arms!"

She walked off, almost in a trance. Lincoln rushed after her and took a couple of the bags off her. He could help out a little…

They spotted Luna half standing in that little trinkets store. She spotted them and waved them over.

"Hey dudes!" she happily greeted. "Nice threads, Linc!"

"Thanks," Lincoln smiled. "Leni knows what she's doing."

"Yeah love," Luna quipped, switching to a British accent. "This wee poppet's gonna 'ave the worl eatin' outta 'er 'and."

Leni blushed. "Oh, stop it…"

"I got the two little tornado tykes with me," Luna told the two, switching back to normal American English (thank god). "They wanted to check out the "big kid" store."

"Aww," Leni cooed. "Actually, I think I'm going to sit down over here. These bags are, like, really heavy."

"I'll take a look inside," Lincoln shrugged.

Luna followed him in while Leni sat down. He spotted Lola and Lana eyeing up some of the "jewelry."

"See anything you like?" he asked them.

"Yes..." Lola answered, stargazed.

"No!" Lana crossed her arms indignantly and turned her head. "I don't want any of that sissy stuff!"

"I should have known better," Lincoln patted her head. "Carry on."

He looked up at the front counter, seeing a friendly clerk wave at him with a smile. He smiled back and walked across the isles. He spotted something good, and waited for the clerk to busy himself behind the counter. Lincoln looked around and, seeing no one, took one of the bracelets and stuffed it in his pocket.

Just then, a hand latched itself onto his arm. He saw Luna's face encompassing his vision.

"Can we talk?"

Her voice suggested it wasn't a request. Lincoln begrudgingly followed her outside and over to the bench Leni was seated.

"What's wrong?" Her brow creased with worry.

"Nothing," Luna lied through her teeth. "Saw you eyeing up those phone cases. I know you want to check them out. Lincoln and I will just bum here until you're done."

Leni's worry broke into a smile as she said, "Okay!" and trotted into the store. Luna took her place on the bench and Lincoln joined her.

He waited for her to say something, but he ended up speaking first.

"I guess you want to know why I took that," Lincoln spoke with aggression. He was being defensive when no one accused him.

"We don't have to talk about that," Luna assured him.

They sat in silence on the bench. Lincoln was leaned forward with his forearms on his knees, while Luna was leaning back, legs crossed in front of her and arms lining the back of the bench.

"Maybe…" She started again. "Why don't you tell me where you lived, before we found you. What'd you do every day?"

Lincoln thought for a moment before answering.

"…" he croaked the answer. "Cried a lot."

"Why's that?"

"It was wrong."

"What was?"

"Everything," Lincoln ran his fingers through his hair. "I mean. I don't know."

"It's okay, my man," Luna's voice was neutral, and patient. "Let it all flow out, dude."

Lincoln took a breath.

"Every day was a different fight," he began, "Fight with my parents for not cleaning… _everything_. Fight to eat. Fight to… not get beat up, all the time. Try to sell this and that to randos. I'm just… so tired. I know its not supposed to be like that. I mean, I saw other kids, with their parents and nice cars and…"

His words drifted as they watched a young couple swing a five year old between them, the toddler squealing in delight. Lincoln looked on with contempt, but kept his head down and away from them. It took a minute for him to start back up again.

"You know what my mom-" he cringed and stopped to correct himself. "_Foster_ mom, said to me? When I was six? She said 'You're a big boy now, I can't feed you every freaking morning.' She threw a dollar at me and told me to go get something myself.

"Sometimes I would…" he glanced up at the store again, "_find_ stuff I could trade. Loose wallets. Bracelets. Whatever. I could get a few bucks, here and there. I just… wanted something to eat."

Lincoln gave an ugly sniff, and wiped his face. The silence between the two of them suffocated the boy.

"I know I'm not the brother you wanted-"

His words stopped when he felt a pair of arms wrap around him and pull him into Luna's chest.

"Lincoln," Luna seemed at a loss, "I'm… They're… _We_ are going to take care of you, from now on. We are going to give you a bed. We are going to feed you. You shouldn't have had to do any of that, and I am so, so sorry. You are ten years old. You shouldn't have to worry about anything except just being a kid. So… just focus on that, okay? You let adults handle the adult stuff. Okay?"

Lincoln could barely breathe she was squeezing him so hard.

"And if I ever," Luna added, "_ever_, find your foster parents, I will personally feed them the wrong end of my axe guitar."

Lincoln couldn't help but blush. No one's ever… done or said anything like that before.

"Okay."

Then, Leni bounced back, holding a phone case, so Luna let go of the boy. Lola and Lana followed her out.

"Hey guys!" Leni babbled. "Check it out! New phone case! Like, I don't even _have _a phone yet, but I thought that if I bought one, Dad might-"

"That's great, Leni," Luna grinned at them. "What do you guys say we get something to eat? I'm hungry like the wolf."

"Me two!" Lola declared.

"Me three!" Lana added.

"Alright!" Luna and her brother stood. "Let me just hit the bathroom real quick, and we'll go."

Lincoln watched her walk away, wiping something from her cheek.

All of the sudden, the foreign object in Lincoln's pocket had gotten too heavy. He walked back into the store and put it back on the shelf.


	4. Chapter 4

After being reunited with Luna, the group ran into Lori with Lily and Lisa in the food court. Lori was giving Lily some baby food, but Lisa was only eating French fries.

"Lisa," Lori told her, "You need to eat the chicken nuggets, too."

"I'd be healthier starving," Lisa ate another fry, "But these starchy, salted imitations of the commonly cut solanum tuberosum are too addictive to deny!"

"You don't get the toy if don't eat the nuggets," Lori warned her.

Lisa paused and looked at the plastic package with the mystery toy inside.

"…There better be uranium in that packaging," she stuffed a nugget into her mouth.

"I wouldn't count on it."

Lily squealed as she spotted her other siblings behind Lori.

"Hey guys!" she greeted. "You look good, Lincoln!"

They got their food and sat down just as the remaining three girls joined them. With all of them across two to three sets of tables, they were responsible for most of the uproar you'd hear at a mall food court.

"So," Lynn said through her burger. "I'm hedging to bet that you're a sports fan. Baseball? Football? Track?"

Luna was at the corner of his vision. She looked away and distracted herself with Lily.

Lincoln shrugged. "Sorry," he answered. "Only running I do is from ladies with white haired babies."

Lynn's cheeks puffed out, and she turned her head to hide her snorting laughter. The twins looked to each other and shrugged. Luan looked nervously from the older girls to the younger.

"Uh, Lincoln," she leaned over to his ear, "Maybe… ixnay on the exsay. Little ears are here."

Lincoln blinked. He'd known about that sort of thing forever now, it never occurred to him to watch his mouth.

"Why would the babies have white hair?" Lola demanded.

"Because, sister," Lisa began to explain. "Our brother is implying that he has-"

"Hey, Luan!" Lori interjected. "Why don't you take Lincoln and go look at some shops? We need some stuff to fill up his room."

She palmed the piece of plastic that she took from Leni. Luan gave an overenthusiastic thumbs up.

"Sounds good!" she declared. She turned to Lynn and clapped her shoulder. "Come on. Let's go."

"But I'm still eating!" Lynn muffled through her food. She swallowed her bite and still had a third of the burger left. She managed to shovel the rest in, along with a fistful of fries.

Lincoln watched her with equal parts of disgust and admiration. They got up and followed Luan. As they joined her, Lincoln felt a cold presence by his arm. He turned and yelped as Lucy had suddenly appeared there.

"I'm here too," she stated plainly, "in case you forgot."

Lincoln coughed and kept walking.

"So wear are we headed?" he wondered.

"Sports gear!" Lynn declared, mouth still full.

"We're going to look around," Luan clarified, correcting Lynn, "And see what Lincoln likes."

"Oh, all right," Lynn finally swallowed and laced her fingers behind her head as they walked. "Tell us what you want Linc. Just please- oh, please- don't make us go into Hot Topic again."

Out of corner of his eye, Lincoln spotted Lucy fold her arms and grit her teeth. That must be her store. Go figure.

Lincoln looked around, looking for something he liked. It was strange that he didn't have an answer. Like he said, most of his time was spent trying to find some way to feed himself or run away from the rough crowds in the city.

And he wasn't a great runner.

He spotted one store with Superhero posters plastered over the glass windows. Spiderman, Avengers, Justice League, and a couple others he didn't recognize. He slowed to a stop when he saw them.

Lynn sighed behind him. "I had a feeling…" she noted.

A few years ago, a classmate of his brought a comic book to school to show his friends. The kid threw a tub of playdoh at Lincoln's head the week before, and he liked the design of the guy on the cover of the book, so he stole it while everyone was at recess. That other boy cried when he realized he would never see it again. Lincoln felt guilty about it, and he fully intended on giving it back (when he was done with it, and he'd give it back without incriminating himself), but his step-brother found it first and tore it to shreds right in front of him. Lincoln cried because his plan had failed, among other things.

Lincoln walked into the store and looked around. The inside was brightly lit, and the walls were painted red, and there were rows and rows of boxes filled with paper back stories, with shelves deeper in containing thicker volumes.

"Let me know if you see anything you like," Luan told him.

The boy scanned the boxes and shelves. Was there any way…?

He looked for him. That strange hero in the red costume, what was it?

"Pfft," Lynn complained, "I think I figured out why guys like these things."

She held up a paper issue. The muscles on the guy were huge, impossibly big, and he had two bikini clad supermodels hanging onto his neck. Their lips were puckered, looking seductively at the audience, and the "man" they attached themselves to looked at the reader with a knowing look and a smirk.

Lincoln rolled his eyes.

"That's how you make a cheap buck," he told her. She snickered and put the book back where she found it.

He resumed his search. He thinks the cape was white, or was it yellow? Gold, maybe?

He felt someone tug on his arm. He turned to see Lucy holding up a volume of something.

"Are… these guys any good?"

He looked at what she offered. It was the X-men, featuring Cyclops on the cover with his glinting red gaze, with the other mutant heroes standing tall behind him.

"I think so," Lincoln took the book. "I think people hate them. Like, they're outcasts, or something."

"Cool," Lucy mumbled.

He took the book and continued his search.

"Woah!"

Lincoln looked over to Lynn, who had picked up a book featuring another team of heroes.

"Who're these guys?" she wondered. "What's with the rock monster?"

"That's the Fantastic Four," he answered. "They're… astronauts, I think?"

"Oh right," Lynn nodded. "I think I remember these guys."

Lincoln took a volume from that team as well. He knew these things cost money, and he doesn't think any of them will fit down his pants. Hopefully their not too expensive.

"Hey, Linc, who's this guy?"

Lincoln turned to Luan, holding up an issue of a muscly man with a lightning bolt across his chest. Lincoln's eyes grew wide.

"That's who I'm looking for!" Lincoln rushed over to her. "Shazam!"

"Really?" Luan flipped through the pages. She spotted a villain sending out a squad of clowns as minions. She sighed dejectedly. "Why can't there be any good-guy-clowns? Why do clowns always have to be evil? It's seriously killing my business."

Lincoln shrugged. He had nothing against clowns, but he didn't really have anything _for_ them, either.

"Well," Luan laid the comic on top of Lincoln's stack. "You think you got enough?"

"Yeah, I think so," he nodded.

They paid for the issues and walked out of the store. They walked around looking at other shops.

"You see anything else you like?" Luan asked.

"Uh…" Lincoln looked around. He spotted a group of boys walking in their direction. It was the skater boys from earlier. Lincoln balled his fists at his sides as they walked by. They were horsing around and shoving each other as they walked along; being rowdy.

One of the boys saw him with the girls walking next to him. As they walked by, Luan suddenly yelped with a sharp clap.

"Geep!" she blushed.

Lincoln spun around, seeing the offending boy with his arm outstretched. His buddies were clapping his shoulders and laughing.

Lynn shouted. "Hey!"

Lincoln didn't even bother. He launched forward, shoving the kid down. The kid banged the back of his head against the glass display of a clothing store. He was wearing a helmet, and the glass didn't break or crack, but it did reverberate, causing many heads to turn and stare at the commotion.

Lincoln, still high on adrenaline, grabbed the kids skate board and brought it down over his head. The kid put his arms up to cover his face instinctively and he squealed in horror. The wheels of the skate board banged against the top of his helmet, and he cried out even harder when he brought them down a second time. There was a sickening crack, but not from the helmet, or the head under it.

"Lincoln, stop!" Luan hooked her arms around the boy, forcing him to drop the skateboard.

The white-haired boy was still breathing heavily. Lynn stepped between him and the other boys. Each of them wore varying expressions of horror. The main offender had tears and snot running down his face, and there was a wet pool under his legs. Lynn picked up the skateboard, noticing the severe crack that split it. It was ruined anyway, any amount of pressure put on it would make it break completely.

She turned to the boys with the skateboard, and slammed it on her knee, snapping it in two and causing splinters to fly. Luan was already shuffling Lincoln away from the scene.

"Respect, a-holes," the athlete told the boys. "Learn it."

They walked away. Lincoln saw Lucy clutching his bag of comics with her head down. They walked outside and sat at a bench. They all seemed to be catching their breath.

"Lincoln," Luan sighed as she ran her hand up and down his back. He shivered at the touch, scared now more than ever. "You can't just… do stuff like that."

"He smacked you," Lincoln answered in a huff.

"Yeah, he did," Luan agreed. "But you could have killed him. If he wasn't wearing that helmet…"

"I don't care," he dismissed it. "Why should I?"

The group remained silent. Lucy was shaking next to Lynn, and she put her arms around her.

Lincoln closed his eyes. "I'm sorry," he breathed.

"It's okay," Luan continued to rub his back. "That was sweet of you, to look out for me… But let's not make a habit out of it, okay?"

Lincoln didn't move for a minute but then nodded.

"Okay."

He gave a big, ugly sniff and wiped his nose.

"You've been in fights before?" Luan asked.

"Sometimes," he sniffed again. Tears escaped from his eyes and he had to wipe them away too.

"Is that wear you got the bruises?" Lucy piped up.

Everyone looked over at her, stunned.

"Bruises?" Luan brow creased in worry.

"I was with you when you went shopping with Leni," she told Lincoln. "When you changed your shirt out in the store, I saw them. I know Leni noticed them too. She was just being nice. And not asking you about it."

Lincoln didn't know he still had the bruises. He had some sore spots, but he never bothered to check in the mirror.

Luan looked back to Lincoln, a new brand of worry spreading over her face.

"Sometimes," he repeated, answering the earlier question.

Stunned silence permeated the group. Little more than rolling cars and wind filled the gap of conversation.

"Lincoln," Luan finally spoke. "I am so…"

She paused. She leaned over him and wrapped him in a tight hug. She planted a kiss on top of his head before just resting her cheek on it.

"Thank you," she told him. "for coming to the rescue."

Lincoln felt more ashamed than proud. In a few minutes, Lori walked out the door with the others trailing behind her. Lily was still on her hip, and she wore determined concern on her face.

"Guys," she stood in front of them, "What happened?"

Luan took charge and told her what happened. When she finished, Lori thought for a second. She glanced at the doors, and her eyes went wide.

"Everybody up," she ordered. "Lucy, skootch next to Lincoln. Lincoln, wrap and arm around her shoulders. Lisa, sit next to Lucy. Lola, Lana, sit next to him on the other side and hold hands. Just do it for five minutes, okay? Lincoln, here."

She placed the baby in his lap.

"Hold her, and don't say anything," she told him.

He nodded. He then realized what she was doing and turned her, so she was facing away from him, like a family portrait. The older girls stood around and waited for the security guard to approach them. When he did, it was just a bunch of girls looking concerned for their younger brother.

"Hey guys," the guard greeted, acting friendly enough. "What happened here?"

Lori took the lead.

"Some boys grabbed my sister," she explained, "Our brother… went a tad overboard. He's usually so well behaved. He just misunderstood. We talked to him already and we promise he won't do it again."

The guard raised and eyebrow, looking from her to (picture-perfect) Lincoln and back to her again.

"Alright," he decided, "No one got hurt this time. I got someone calling the boy's parents. Where are your parents?"

"On their way," Lori proudly proclaimed, showing the texts on her phone for a second.

The guard nodded. "I'll let it go this time but consider this a warning. No more fights, okay bud?"

He seemed to be talking to Lincoln more than anyone else. He cleared his throat.

"Yessir," he meekly nodded.

Satisfied, he looked back to Lori.

"You girls be careful," he told them. He went back inside.

Everyone let out a breath.

"Well," Luan said, still red in the face. "That was a full day."

"Definitely," Luna agreed.


	5. Chapter 5

It took a few minutes for their father to pick them up. Three of the girls seemed unaware as to what exactly happened, but the car was silent for a few minutes.

"So what happened?" Lynn Sr. asked the crowd. Rita was nowhere to be seen, and Lincoln sat in the front seat. He had no answer to give.

He looked at his father from the corner of his eye.

"Okay," his father said, not a hint of irritation present in his voice, "When you're ready to talk, we'll talk. In your own time."

Lincoln turned in his seat, looking at his sisters. Most of the older girls were sitting in the first looked back at him in concern. Luan opened her mouth to speak, but Lincoln beat her too it.

"I got into a fight," he confessed.

Lynn Sr. only nodded.

"Why'd you get into a fight, son?"

His shoulders slumped, he pulled his knees up to his chin, curling into a ball around his seatbelt. He muttered something into his knees.

"Someone smacked Luan?" his father deciphered. Lincoln nodded.

Lynn sighed through his nose.

"Luan, honey?" he glanced at the rearview mirror. "You okay, sweetie?"

"Yes daddy," she answered soberly.

The car was quiet.

"You going to send me back?" Lincoln asked him.

The whole car seemed to gasp. Lynn swerved the van to avoid hitting the car in front of them. When he got the van under control, he sighed.

"Lincoln," he said, "Son… That is _never_ going to happen. You are not going anywhere, except back home, with us."

Lincoln had no words to respond. His throat constricted as he tried to muster something to say to the man. Something to say to his _father_.

Lincoln rested his forehead on his knees. He didn't understand any of this. How could he not have given up on him already? He did everything wrong while with his sisters.

"I want you to know, son," his father told him, "I am glad that you cared enough to stand up for your sisters. And I am _proud_ of you."

Lincoln shot his head up to look at him. He didn't know what to say. What to think. His mind just went blank until they pulled into the driveway. His sisters seemed to flock behind him, slowly escorting him to the door at his own pace.

"Hey, Louds!"

The group paused and looked up and over at their neighbor; an old man with a black vest looking down at them from the second story window.

"Who's the old feller with ya?" he adjusted the glasses on his nose. "Thought you only had one grandpa."

"Mr. Grouse!" Lynn Sr. called back in prideful joy. "This is my son. Lincoln! Lincoln, that is our neighbor. Mr. Grouse."

Lincoln couldn't help but blink at the name. Grouse? Isn't that the same word as complain? Wouldn't someone want to change that, if that was their name?

"Oh, well," the old man raised an eyebrow. "Congratulations! That's one more kid making noise on this street. Stay inside, Louds!"

…Nevermind.

They went inside and there was a loud banging upstairs, like someone slamming a hammer to a nail.

"What's going on upstairs?" Leni wondered.

"That is Lincoln's surprise," their father told with a smile, "though it's not quite done yet."

Lincoln blinked and, with his growing curiosity, ventured up the stairs. The girls apparently bore the same questions and followed him. Lincoln looked both ways at the top of the stairs before determining that the banging came from his right.

He went over to the end and looked in the doorway for the room. Walls and flooring had been constructed in this new room. A small, circular window was left open for air. His mother was putting in the final touches, it seemed.

"Hey, honey!" she greeted. She stood from her work spot and pulled the plastic goggles off her face. "What do you think?"

Lincoln looked around. It was smaller than the room he had to share at the foster house. And if they were to install a bed and a dresser in here, the room would barely qualify as a room.

"I know it's a little small," Rita sympathized with her son, leaning down next to him, "but we didn't have any other rooms to change out, and we thought it'd be important for you to have your own space."

Lincoln wiped his arm across his face. "It's fine," he choked. "No. This is great. Thank you."

Rita visibly melted and hugged the boy to her shoulder.

"So…" Lynn scratched her head. "Where's the new linen closet going to be?"

Someone smacked the back of her head in response.

"It's going to take a couple of days for this room to get carpeted and to get some furniture in here," Rita added. "So you'll have to bunk with your sisters until then. Is that alright with you?"

"Yeah," Lincoln squeezed the woman's shoulders, before adding, "It's okay, Mom."

Lincoln spent the day with his sisters, and sat down with them at dinner. They told the parents more details about the day, though Luna excluded the theft attempt, and Leni excluded the noted bruising. Lynn blew up the story about Lincoln's assault, however.

"There were, like, twelve guys," she exaggerated. "and they had Luan backed into a corner! And she was all like 'Eek! Save me!' and I was all like 'What the hay?' and Lincoln comes in like a superhero and-"

She was interrupted by Lori's hand, smacking her upside the head.

"That is not what happened, and you know it," she corrected.

Lynn threw her hands up.

"Well, _now_ it's not!" she argued, "I'm trying to make all this canon!"

Luna looked over at Luan. "Did you really go 'Eek'?"

Luan coughed into her fist, blushing slightly.

"…Maybe a little," she answered. "I wasn't eek-specting to get smacked in the rear today!"

Luna rolled her eyes, and the family continued horsing around at the dinner table. Afterwards, Lincoln spotted a shadow moving against the stairs. He moved to follow it.

"Hey Lincoln!" Lynn called from the couch. "Movie time! You get to pick!"

"Oh, uh…" Lincoln peered from the stairs. The sports nut held up the two titles in her grip. "I hadn't seen that one before."

Lynn looked to what he pointed and sighed.

"Bad news, ladies," she declared, "It's Lord of the Rings."

"Is that about, like, a marriage counselor?" Leni wondered, looking at the case.

"Yes," both Luna and Luan answered simultaneously, keeping straight faces for all of thirty seconds.

"I'm just going to the bathroom," Lincoln said, "Be right back."

He excused himself up the stairs and found one of the rooms cracked. He pushed it open to see the black-haired girl sitting on the bed.

"Hey, Lucy," he called, "We're starting a movie downstairs. I think its about magic, or something."

Lucy didn't move from her seat on the bed. She just fidgeted her fingers. Lincoln stepped closer.

"Guess you're the favorite now," she commented.

Lincoln looked at her, head tilted in confusion. She continued.

"Nobody notices me," she said, "Nobody remembers me. And now you're here and…"

She shakes her head. "I should just go. I never should have been born in this family."

"Uh…" now it was Lincoln's turn to shake his head, because he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Now, waitaminute. I think you got the wrong idea here."

"I'll just go live in the graveyard with my ghost friends," she carried on, "I named the bats there. Maybe Fangs can fetch me some berries. Lynn's kind of a gross roommate to have, but she's not so bad once you get used to the smell of sweaty socks-"

"Hold on!" Lincoln insisted, "I don't think you should go anywhere. Like… not ever!"

Lucy looked up at him (he thinks, the bangs make it hard to tell) and stared at him. Lincoln took a breath before speaking (Man, it really does stink in here).

"Having ten sisters," Lincoln told her, "is perhaps the craziest news I have ever heard in my life. Now if you told me I only had nine sisters; I'd be pretty disappointed. Because I would know someone was missing."

Lincoln paused, before he added something else.

"You're… younger than me, right?" he asked. "You were born after I… well, 'went missing.' So, this is the first time we're meeting each other. Let's make it official, then."

He straightened his back and extended his hand to her, saying, "Hi, I'm Lincoln loud. I'm ten years old, and I have ten amazing sisters. What's your name?"

Lucy's mouth twitched at its corners. She extended her hand and shook his with hers.

"I'm Lucy Loud," she introduced herself, playing along, "I love poetry, vampires, and the color black. I have nine sisters… and one brother."

Lincoln smiled, and Lucy got off the bed and hugged him.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Lincoln squeezed her tightly.

They spent the rest of the night downstairs, watching a movie, and enjoying each other's company.


	6. Chapter 6

Lincoln's eyes fluttered opened. Yes, _fluttered_. Like a princess. He stayed another night in Lori's bed, and woke up to the sunshine bleeding through the window.

Something gripped the night shirt he wore. His attention snapped over to a looming figure. His foster brother leaned over him at an unnatural angle. His face twisted and contorted between anger and sadistic glee.

"Where'd you go, snowflake?" his voice was garbled, like Lincoln was hearing his voice while being held underwater. "Gang's not the same without you."

Lincoln couldn't breathe. He gasped for air that wasn't there. He was drowning again.

He lurched forward, sitting upright in the bed. He looked around, seeing Lucy and Leni next to him, he tried to remember what happened…

Lincoln had gotten ready for bed and said his goodnights to his parents and sisters (that took a while). He crawled into bed and prepared to go to sleep. Lori was getting into bed with Leni when the second eldest gasped.

"Wait," she suddenly said. She pulled the sleeping mask up and got up. Lori watched as she crossed the room and crawled into bed with Lincoln. "Just for tonight."

Lori rolled her eyes and pulled the covers up to her shoulders. "Goodnight guys."

"Goodnight," the two younger siblings answered in unison.

At some point in the night, Lincoln had gained another visitor. And then another, and another, until, seemingly, the whole second floor was sharing space in Lori and Leni's room.

Lucy joined him and Leni on the bed, making it crowded, but warm. Lincoln looked over and saw Lori had relinquished her bed to Lana, Lola, and Lisa. He looked over and saw that Lily's crib had been moved into the room between the door and the closet, with the baby fast asleep with her blanket.

It must have been moved by Luna and Luan, who were curled up on the floor with blankets and pillows. Lori laid down next to them, with some spare sheets of her own. Between the comedian and musician was Lynn, who must have gotten into a fight with her blankets. Her mouth was open, and she was drooling. She must have lost.

Lincoln's two bunkmates stirred under his erratic movement. Leni got up, immediately caring for her brother, rubbing his back.

"Hey, hey," she soothed him. "Are you okay? It was a nightmare, just a nightmare."

The other girls were starting to stir, slowly but surely. It was feeling crowded; he couldn't handle everyone bombarding him with questions right this second.

"Shower," he muttered, "need a shower."

He got up and walked around his sisters to the bathroom, quickly hopping into the shower and turning on the water. He barely registered closing the door or discarding his clothes.

The water dripped down his head and into his face. He turned away from it and sat down where the water didn't fall on top of him. He needed to breathe. He needed to think.

His mind wandered to the foster home, his old family. How many little boys and girls surrounded him in that tiny apartment? He could never keep track. It was a mad house. Babies crying. Teens laughing. Bullies. Everywhere. He had one older brother in particular, Derrick, who always spotted him because of his white hair. He called Lincoln "snowflake."

God help him if he met his brother on the street. Derrick and his friends would spot him and chase him for the fun of it. They chased him for blocks, which would turn into miles. One day they chased him across town, and he only got away by hiding in the library. He didn't get back home until it was dark. Why run so far for so long? Because he'd been caught before, and they tore him to pieces.

After bruising him up in a park, in the middle of the day, they dunked his head into a fountain, holding him under for too long by his count. It might have been a couple of seconds, but his panic and flailing made him think it was an eternity. The older boys had enough fun and left him gasping at the fountain. There were some people in the park, but everyone ignored him.

He had limped home that day. It was a miracle nothing was broken. The foster parents took him to a hospital, complaining the whole way. They played nice with the doctors, he'd been mugged, and that was true enough. He was treated for bruises and sprains, and Derrick left him alone for a little while, but it only inspired him to run harder and faster since then.

There was a knock on the door, and it was cracked open.

"Lincoln?" Lori's voice sounded concerned. "You okay in there?"

Lincoln gulped, still sitting at the far end of the tub.

"Yeah," he croaked.

"Okay…" she sounded hesitant but kept her voice light. "Breakfast is almost ready, snowflake."

Lincoln's back straightened and his breathing seized.

"What did you call me?" he gripped the sides of the tub. His voice expressed more shock than anger.

Lori seemed to hesitate. "I didn't call you anything," she told him, then repeated, "Breakfast is almost ready."

Lincoln didn't answer, and he listened as Lori shut the door closed and walked away. He stood in the tub, cleaned himself under the cold water and stepped out. A few minutes later, he stepped down stairs, fully clothed and dried. He sat down and ate with his sisters, and his parents never looked prouder or happier with all of them. Lincoln felt like a wreck.

When breakfast started winding down, Lori got a phone call.

"Oh, that's Bobby!" Lori excitedly answered. "Hey babe! Oh my god, you are not going to believe the weekend we just had."

She got up and started gushing over the phone, carrying it into the living room. Lincoln watched her carefully.

"She's got a boo," Luna told the boy. "Bobby… Santiago, I think. Chill guy. Works just about everywhere, though."

Lincoln turned back in his seat, looking down.

"Is he…?" He fought to finish the sentence. "Is he a good guy?"

"Yeah," Luna smiled. "He is. You should have seen him when he first came to the house. Dude never knew what hit him!"

She snickered, but the laughter died when she looked back up at his eyes.

"You okay dude?"

"I…" Lincoln's eyes darted to the living room, back to Luna, "Never knew… I've seen boyfriends and girlfriends in the city. The guys are never…"

The fact was that Lincoln knew far too many boys that referred to the girls as property. Some of the girls laughed, and were fine with it, but he remembered one who was absolutely miserable. She dated Derrick, and she was nice to Lincoln, and it hurt him when he saw her "step out of line." He watched her be smacked several times, before she found the courage to break up with him.

Lincoln avoided Derrick for a couple weeks after that.

"It's okay, dude," Luna raked her nails gently across his back. "He's a nice guy."

Lincoln nodded, taking a deep breath.

"Hey, Lincoln," his dad called for his attention, "We've been making some calls and… well, how do you feel about school?"

…

An hour later, Lincoln was being driven up to the school with his parents. They walked him in and…

Holy… Moley…

It was so much nicer than his old school. Granted, the reality was that it was an average school at best, but there was no graffiti on the walls. No trash in the hallways, none of the lockers were dented or marked up, the smell of cigarettes was missing…

Building may as well have been brand new.

"Greetings, Mr. Loud."

Lincoln snapped his attention to three other adults that came up to greet them. His parents exchanged pleasantries with them and then they turned their attention to him. He felt a tad… exposed.

"Lincoln," his mother gently introduced, "This is Principal Huggins, your teacher, Mrs. Johnson, and Mrs. Botch."

"…Hi," Lincoln tried his best to smile at them. He shook each other hands, already forgetting their names. Though, when he got to Miss Botch, she held his attention. She wore a suit, and glasses that tipped her nose.

"I'm the school's councilor," she told him. "I help students when they have questions... or if they have trouble adjusting."

Lincoln nodded, not really understanding what was said. The adults ushered him along and showed him his new classroom. It was also nice, wide open windows and a terrarium with a big ugly spider in it. His dad refused to get any closer to it. Although, though all this excitement, Lincoln just felt exhausted. He wanted to go home and flop on the couch. Finally, they walked back to the front office, and the parents needed to iron out some details. Mrs. Botch placed a hand on Lincoln's shoulder.

"If it's all right with you two," she announced, "I think I'd like to talk to Lincoln for a moment. My office is across the hall down here, should you need anything."

The parents agreed, though Lincoln felt otherwise. He didn't say as much and let himself be led to the woman's tiny office. There were motivational posters above the filing cabinets, though those seemed to be the only interesting things in here.

"A little cramped, I know," she smiled, sitting down across from him, "But I thought it'd be best to get to know one another. For instance…"

She laced her fingers in front of her. "How's home? Are you adjusting well to this new house of yours?"

Lincoln blinked, and was quick to nod. "Yeah!" he answered enthusiastically, "I love it! I mean, I'm still waiting on my new room and everything, but my sisters are awesome! They're all so nice, and…"

He looked down, feeling bashful. He loved them, sure, but… saying it out loud was kind of embarrassing.

"Well that's good," Mrs. Botch encouraged, "I'm glad to here that. Most kids have a little bit of trouble… Being in a brand new place, with new rules and faces… it can be overwhelming, sometimes. If you have any questions, or concerns of some kind, you are welcome in this office. I will always listen."

Lincoln smiled and said, "Thanks." But he hesitated.

"Um, actually…" he started. "I guess I… have… one question…"

Mrs. Botch nodded and waited patiently for him to continue.

"I just…" he stuttered, "Back in…the foster house… I knew life wasn't good there, but… I'm smart."

Mrs. Botch seemed confused. "What do you mean?"

"I mean…" he sighed, "I had to observe people to survive. I had to be a people person. Saying this to her, or that to him… who to talk to who to avoid… I got good at it. Planned my whole day around it, even knew enough to know how it was going to end. But now…"

He shook his head, trying to find the right words.

"Everything's going right," he continued, "Everything's going great for me, but I don't know how it ends. Where does the story… _my story_, end?"

Mrs. Botch stared at him, thinking critically.

"Well, Lincoln," she finally spoke, "That is very… insightful, for a boy your age. I can honestly say; I have no idea how the story ends. That much is up to you. But I can say this:"

She leaned forward over her desk.

"Life doesn't have an end," she clarified, "There is no final chapter. There is no boss level. There is no "Happily Ever After: The End" deal. When you reach the end of one chapter, another one opens. Life just… keeps going. So, it's up to you to make the best choices possible. Like not picking fights in a mall with skater boys."

Lincoln blushed.

"You… know about that?"

"There's a video of a white-haired hero defending his sister on all the media sites, right now," she answered, wiggling her phone and her eyebrows. "Let's try not to make a habit out of it, okay?"

Lincoln nodded, eagerly. "Yes ma'am."

"Good man," she stood to escort him out.

"Oh, uh," Lincoln added as they walked out, "I'm not sure how good I'll be with the whole… 'Learning' thing, but-"

"Oh, don't worry about that," she assured him, "Just do the best that you can do. You may surprise yourself."

"Okay," he nodded. "Thanks."

"You're very welcome."

Lincoln met back up with his parents and rode with them home. He looked out the window and saw other kids playing around and walking to some premade destination.

"What do you think, son?" his father asked from the driver's seat.

"I think it's alright," he answered optimistically. "It's all alright."

They pulled into the driveway of their home. Lincoln hopped out of the van and ran up to the door. He could already hear the uproar emanating from inside. Without a second's hesitation, he turned the door knob, and opened it to join the chaos.

He was home, now.


	7. Chapter 7

Lincoln stepped out of the van with the rest of the crowd. They did have a bus route for their neighborhood, but his mom insisted on driving the kids to school this particular day. Lincoln didn't think they were missing out on the experience, though (eleven children in one vehicle can achieve the same effect).

He took a deep breath and made his way to the school. Lori appeared and walked next to him.

"Hey," she greeted, "Just wanted to remind you. We're going to go get ice cream after school today."

"Okay?"

Lucy appeared next to him suddenly. He hated to say it, but he was starting to get used to Spooky evaporating next to him whenever he wasn't looking.

"Dad always takes us out for ice cream on our first day of school," she explained in a monotone fashion. "That way we have something to look forward to. Even when we have a bad day."

Lincoln nodded. "Huh. Cool."

He had to admit; it was a neat trick. And it worked, he was already looking forward to it as he walked in.

"We'll see you later, Lincoln," Lori patted his shoulder and disappeared among the crowd of teenagers.

"Bye, Lincoln!" the girls all spoke in unison, separating and going off to their individual classes.

He followed the hall by memory, even waving to Mrs. Botch along the way, and ending up at Mrs. Johnson's classroom. Plenty of kids were already in there, split off into groups or just doing their own thing. A group of guys in the back corner took notice of him and stared. Lincoln knew his white hair was an eye catcher but this seemed next level. The group of girls towards the front of the class stared too. He couldn't tell what anyone was thinking.

He sat in the seat they had previously discussed the other day. He took a deep breath and got out a notebook and pencil. He hated school. The whole deal. Teachers were mean. Classmates were cruel. He never even made anything closely resembling a friend. Classes seemed pointless… well, there were some things he thought were cool, but he could never really enjoy them.

_Things are different here_, he reminded himself. _Things can be different_.

The bell rang, and the teacher walked into the room with the last few stragglers. Everyone took their seats, and no sooner did Mrs. Johnson stand up for announcements.

"Alright, class," she spoke while shuffling some papers, not immediately looking up at everyone. "Everyone take your seats, we have a new student joining us today. Lincoln, would you like to stand and introduce yourself?"

Lincoln nodded and stood from his seat. He got to the front of the class and started sweating. So many eyes on him…

"Hi," he waved. He coughed and continued, "I'm Lincoln Loud... and I…"

He paused. He may not have had any friends, but he knew how to present himself. He didn't want to be "the guy with ten sisters," why not shake it up a little?

"Uh…" he stalled.

_Come on…_ he told himself. _Be funny. Make them laugh!_

He glanced over at Mrs. Johnson. This may not be the best story to tell at this time, but he thought it would be worth it.

"I hid my first-grade teacher's glasses in a fishbowl," he told the audience in front of him. Everyone looked confused, including the teacher, who furrowed her brow.

"Why?" the girl in front of him asked.

"So she could find her car keys," he explained, "I hid those in there too."

People were starting to catch on and started snickering. This was good, they're warming up to him.

"So," Mrs. Johnson pieced together, though not without a bemused smile, "You put her glasses in the fish bowl to help her find her car keys?"

"Yeah," Lincoln smiled, "She, uh… she'd been looking for them for three days."

The class was starting to giggle in unison.

"Why'd you do that?" the teacher asked, also chuckling.

"She was just… mean," Lincoln avoided those _other_ descriptors he was familiar with. "Nobody liked her."

Mrs. Johnson lowered her head, rubbing her eyes with her thumb and finger, shoulders shaking from contained laughter. The students saw this and relaxed enough to laugh and giggle as well.

"Thank you, Mr. Loud," she finally said, standing up. She was still smiling. "You can take your seat now. Everyone open your history books to chapter seven; today we're starting the Napoleonic Wars. Clyde, would you mind sharing your book with Lincoln until we can get him one?"

"Sure thing," the boy next to Lincoln answered. He scooted his desk closer to Lincoln and splayed the text book across the tables. "I'm Clyde, by the way."

"Nice to meet you," Lincoln shook his hand.

He felt like today would be a good day. Later, at lunch, he sat down next to Clyde. He was a good kid, a bit delicate, but a good kid, nonetheless. He had a group of friends, all of which were inexplicable redheads, but are somehow not related. Inevitably, the conversation fell to Lincoln's hair.

"I don't know, man," Lincoln answered when Rusty asked him about it, "I feel like it's a Benjamin Button kind of deal."

"What's your damage, snowball?"

Lincoln froze and turned in his seat. One of the older kids, a middle school boy, towered over him. He looked like a copy and paste of someone he met earlier, but Lincoln couldn't think of who.

"Who're you?" he wondered.

"You beat up my brother at the mall on Saturday!" he jabbed a finger into his chest. "Remember that?"

Lincoln bit back a curse. He wasn't supposed to fight anymore. No more fighting, that was the deal. So he had to think of a way out of this.

"Sorry," he shrugged, "Don't remember."

"Little kid," he explained, "Blond hair. You broken his skateboard."

Lincoln shook his head and pushed his lips out like he gave a good deal of thought. "Nope. Can't remember. Sorry."

"Mother Ffff…" he threw his head back and never finished the curse. "Everyone saw you on YouTube! You're the only white-haired kid in this school!"

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yeah!"

"Did you check?" Lincoln prompted. He held his arms out, as if to say, "Did you think about that?"

The boy's eyes flicked down, giving it some thought. He held his chin, for extra concentration.

_Oof_. _Not the sharpest tool in the shed, are you, All-Star?_

The older boy walked away without another word, but Lincoln couldn't let it go.

"Hey!"

The boy turned around.

"What's your brother's name?"

"…" he finally answered. "Rex."

Lincoln nodded. "Tell Rex," he said, "If he touches my sisters again; he'll go from Rex to Racheal."

The bully blinked. "I don't get it."

"Didn't think you would," Lincoln muttered. He turned back in his seat and sighed. He looked to the other boys around him and they stared back at him with wide eyes.

"Dude…" Rusty spoke in awe.

"What?" Lincoln shrugged. "I don't like bullies."

"That was awesome!" Clyde cheered him. "I mean, granted, Connor isn't that smart. He should really consider a tutor, but still!"

Lincoln sighed and shook his head. "I can't get into any more fights, guys."

"We can totally help you!" Rusty suggested. "We can draw up some plans and stuff!"

Lincoln felt his tense shoulders relax. He could get used to having guys like these around.


	8. Chapter 8

"Napoleon, huh?" Lynn commented, tearing away from her own notebook and leaning over to Lincoln's.

Lincoln raised an eyebrow at the girl. "Do you even know who Napoleon is?"

It'd been a fair couple of days since his initial introduction to his school life. Lincoln was enjoying the history lessons and took great interest in them.

"Pshht," she scoffed, "Course I do. He, uh… invented three different ice cream flavors, right?"

Lincoln sighed, letting his hardback textbook flop against the dining table, and fought not to let his forehead do the same.

"How are you in middle school?"

"Because I'm a sports goddess, baby!" She flexed her arms in various poses.

Lincoln rolled his eyes with a groan and returned to his book.

"Lincoln!" his mother called from the top of the stairs. "Why don't you come upstairs? We got something for you."

Lincoln put his book down and climbed the stairs. The muscle head was close behind him. It didn't take a genius to figure out what the surprise was, but he was still excited all the same. What with the carpeting crew coming downstairs just as he was getting home after school. Not to mention the totally-not-furniture-but-yes-it's-furniture-stop-looking-Lincoln-and-pretend-its-a-surprise that his family had been pushing upstairs an hour and a half ago. His sisters stood at the top of the stairs now and followed him to the spare linen closet. The parents stood at each side of the door. Lincoln eagerly, fearlessly, opened the door and stepped inside.

To his surprise, it was a little roomier than what he initially expected. He could definitely hang out in here. His bed and dresser created a narrow path between the door and the opposing wall, but a couple people could stand in here and it not be overly crowded. His dresser seemed to double as a desk, being split in half and the chair kicked into the corner. There were some empty shelves too, placed high above the desk/dresser, just waiting to be filled with… whatever Lincoln wanted to fill them with. A clock above the bed told him the time of day.

Lincoln stared at the room in awe. He couldn't form the words.

"So," his mom waited anxiously, "What do you think?"

"I…" Lincoln coughed. "It's great!"

"Hmm." She pouted at the room. "I know its small, but-"

Her words were cut short as Lincoln latched his arms around her sides. Rita fought a sob and hugged him back tightly. His father and the other girls gushed around them.

"I'm so glad you're back, sweetie," Rita kissed his head.

"Me too," Lincoln answered.

* * *

Peace doesn't last forever though.

He enjoyed it for about a week. It was Friday, and it was hard to believe that, a week earlier, he was getting a beating from his foster dad. After the initial celebration, Lincoln was enjoying some alone time in his new room. With homework out of the way, he was enjoying a Fantastic Four story: one storied around Doctor Doom's adopted heir. The poor boy was abducted from his family, brainwashed by Doom, and was manipulated into acting just like him. His name was Kristoff Vernard.

Lincoln couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of it. It was like the character was a copy-paste of himself. He even had the weird name down: Lincoln Loud.

Heh. Wow. He hadn't thought about his own name in a long time. Except for the time when some classmates of his decided his last name should be "Park" (Ha ha).

He decided Lincoln Loud had a rather nice ring to it.

There was a knock at his door, and Lincoln happily got up to answer it. He opened the door, swinging it wide to let the person on the other end see his smiling face.

Only, when he saw who it was, his smile disappeared. His mind blanked, halting all flows of information. His blood ran cold. A flashbang apparently went off in his ears, they were ringing so much. And he all he could do was just stare at the tall figure before him.

"How's it hanging, snowflake?"

Derrick was here. He was in the Loud house.

"The rents are downstairs, hashing things out with your kidnappers," he spoke, answering a question that Lincoln didn't think to ask. "Ain't you gonna invite me in?"

Lincoln stepped aside, and Derrick stepped in to his room. He helped himself to a seat on the bed, sitting on the comic Lincoln had been reading. Lincoln checked the hallway for the girls and closed the door behind him. Where was everyone right now?

Luan was out working; performing at a birthday party. Lola and Lana were at a friends house and either mom or dad would go bring them back home before dinner. Lynn and Luna had practice, sports and band respectively. Lucy was…somewhere out there. Lisa was at an afternoon lecture. The only one's home were Lily, Lori, and Leni.

"Hey," Derrick examined the room, admiring it in the sarcastic way he does, "Nice room. I mean, what the hell is this, dude? Our room was _way_ bigger than this shithole."

Lincoln was slowly rebooting his brain. He found his vocabulary again.

"It's my room," Lincoln defended. "I don't got to share with nobody."

He cringed.

"Anybody," he corrected himself. He knew better. "I don't _have_ to share it with _anybody_."

Derrick nodded, pushing his tongue to his cheek, like he always does in thought. He was looking around the small space like a twitchy bird.

"So when were you going to tell me you got some balls?" he asked.

"Huh?" Lincoln blinked.

"C'mon, man…" he smacked the boy's shoulder playfully, "The fire, man! You started one in the kitchen, remember?!"

Lincoln nodded. He did start a fire. Of course, he wasn't stupid. He needed something to distract his foster parents while he made his escape. He wasn't stupid with it, though. He had the kids sitting on the stairs outside the apartment, in case the fire ever got out of control.

"Yeah," he recalled. "Dad got too rowdy. Smacked me around a bunch. Kicked me. Got sick of it. Wanted to get out."

Derrick looked away from Lincoln, staring straight ahead at the dresser and nodding.

"Huh," he said. "Looks like you got it pretty good here, huh?"

Lincoln couldn't help but smile a little. Thinking about them made him feel a little better.

"Yeah," he flashed a smile. "Pretty much."

"Nice house," Derrick listed, "New clothes…"

"Yeah…" Lincoln nodded, unashamed.

"Sexy girls…"

Lincoln blinked. "Huh?"

"Yeah, I know this guy…" he smacked Lincoln's shoulder playfully again, grinning like a goblin, "He moved in with like twenty honeys! He's chasing that tail, man! Look at him! Didn't even know the stones dropped man!"

Lincoln, for all of Derrick's… "playfulness," shook his head in disbelief. He couldn't believe where his head was at. Half of the "honeys" were _younger than him_. Hell, Derrick is older than all of them. He had a birthday a month ago.

"Those are…" He fought to explain, shaking his head again, "They're my sisters."

"Pshht, whatever, man," he shrugged. "Guess you won't mind if I take one for myself. You got a couple to spare, don't'cha?"

Lincoln's face scrunched up in frustration.

"No."

Lincoln's shoulders had squared up. His jaw clenched, and his hands bawled into fists at his sides. Derrick blinked and knit his eyebrows together.

"What'd you say?"

"I said No, Derrick." He repeated.

Derrick rose from the bed, towering over Lincoln.

"You know," he said, his face contorting into a snarl, "It ain't been so good a week for me, you know!? First the guys don't wanna hang out with me no more. Says I'm out! Then I come home, and the half the apartment's on fire. Then, Dad saw you leave, and took it out on me! Where do you think I got these from, Snowball?!"

He lifted his shirt, showing a lot of fresher bruises than Lincoln was currently experiencing. Lincoln also noticed a black handle and trigger sticking out of the front of his pants. He gulped when he saw it, barely noticing the bruises, anymore.

"I got these," he said, "Cause a' you! And then, some suits come sniffing around, and take all the little brats away! They looked right over me, like I don't even matter, man! I'm seventeen fucking years old, and I don't get no help?!"

During his rant, he was shuffling back and forth within the space in front of Lincoln, flapping his arms wildly in his frustration. When he finished, he was huffing air, like he just had a short run.

Lincoln didn't back down. He took in a breath, smelling Derrick's cheap soap and cigarette smoke.

"I'm sorry, Derrick," was the only response he could think of.

Derrick was still breathing heavily. He shook his head.

"Don't matter," he decided, wiping something off his face. "They're downstairs. They wanna see you."

"I don't." Lincoln stated.

Derrick just glared at him. Now Lincoln answered the unspoken question.

"I don't want to see them," he repeated.

Derrick just stared at him.

"Damn," he finally said, "You really a man now, huh?"

Lincoln didn't answer. Didn't have to.

And he didn't get the chance to.

Derrick grabbed his arm and reached over to the door. He swung it open and started yanking the ten year old downstairs.

"Ain't goin' down alone, Snowflake," He talked as Lincoln struggled. "Never again. If I gotta deal with it, so do you!"

"No!" Lincoln did everything to fight his way out of Derrick's grip, but it was useless. He was too big, too strong. And when he dragged him down to his foster parents, he was going to leave. He'd never see his real family again.

He couldn't fight them alone.

He needed help.

* * *

Lori Loud.

The oldest daughter of the Loud house.

That's all there is to her identity, isn't there?

Her entire life was upended when she was nine years old. Her parents gave her one job. Just one. Watch over your siblings. They were gone for… she didn't even know how long. Leni was sitting quietly, Luna started fighting with Luan because the latter smacked her in a game of patty-cake, Lynn started crying for no reason. She was just trying to settle everyone down at the park while their parents left to go get ice cream for all of them. They were within view of the truck, and the line leading up to it. Lincoln... two years old, still just a baby, waddled off when Lori wasn't looking. For eight years, she had no idea what had happened. Now, getting the story from her parents, after they found him, she was able to infer a few details.

Lincoln got taken away, by some couple. Maybe they wanted ransom and thought they were rich. Maybe they were selfish people who wanted a child of their own. Maybe they were something much, much worse.

Well, now they'll never know, because they died in a car crash just outside of the city. From there, police saw the boy, shrugged, and put him into a foster system.

Just four hours away.

…

_She had one job_.

And what did she say to Lincoln when he got back? She was seven when he was born, and nine when he was taken away. She couldn't even keep it straight in her head when she saw him.

_You botched your own introduction_.

He must have been so scared when the police pulled him out of the car. Lori remember the toddler was wearing a nametag, and had been going up to random kids and adults alike, pointing to his nametag and saying "My name's Linkin!" Literally everyone he made eye contact with. It must have been what he ran off to do when Lori wasn't looking. It must have been what he said to the police officer when they asked him. It was the only clue to his identity for _years_, and nobody cared to scan a few more sheets of paper.

She had no words for the fury that's been building inside her. What she's been feeling for eight years now. She had sat at the top of the stairs, listening to her mother bawl her eyes out _every night_, and her father tried to stay strong for the both of them.

She took her job more seriously after that. Every night she would stay up, go to the nursey, check on the babies. Every night, she checked on them, sneaking out of bed to do it. She herded them around like they were sheep, and she was a shepherd. People would look at her in public and think, "Oh, what a good sister, watching over her siblings like that. How sweet!"

_Shows what they know_.

This shaped her to be more…authoritative. In some ways even more so than her parents. When Luna went to her first rock concert, and didn't return until some time after midnight, it was Lori who stayed up all night until she got home. A lot of words were exchanged, until Luna spoke a truth that Lori didn't want to face.

"You're just mad that you got our brother killed when you were eight!" Luna had said in a fit of anger.

That was when the parents came out of their room and settled the matter. They went about their day, and Luna apologized later, but it didn't make it any less true. The words haunted her.

She left Luna alone after that.

Still she kept up routine. Checked on the nursery- checked on all the rooms- every night and morning. Bobby even offered his ears, should she ever need them. He was such a sweetheart; looking out for her even when he's working so hard all over town. How did she get lucky enough for someone like him? Everything could pass for normal for a little while.

Then they got the call.

Lori couldn't believe the news. "Long-lost" doesn't seem to have the same impact as it should, but that's what he was. Her long-lost brother came back home. She was crying tears of joy when she saw him.

Luna told her how she caught him stealing something. Leni told her how she noticed bruises on his back and sides. And she almost broke down all over again.

She walked out of her room rubbing her eyes with her thumb and finger. Today... she needed to tell him. She needed him to know that he could talk to her. Trauma is no small matter, but if she could get him to open up a little more, then it would help. Even if he needed professional help, they'd get him that too.

Hell, it's the least she could do.

But first; a glass of water.

Her voice was getting hoarse just thinking about all of this, and she hasn't even spoken a word of it to anybody. She walked downstairs to get her refreshment, but paused halfway down. Her parents had guests over. They were very loud, and loose with their swears. She even flinched when she heard her dad fling one of his own. The booming argument was a little hard to decipher, but Lori soon understood.

These were Lincoln's foster parents.

They wanted him back.

There was no way.

She hurried back up the stairs, making her way to Lincoln's room. She had to check on him. She needed to stay with him in case he was going anywhere. She barely turned the corner when the door to his new room opened up.

* * *

Leni Loud.

The girl who loves clothes.

Shopping, sales, folding, sowing, knitting, crocheting. Everything about it. The visual designs of a dress, right down to the textures under her fingers.

None of this helped her brother, though.

He was two, when he was taken. She was eight, much too young to fully grasp the situation in that moment. Time wore her down. Every day she would wake up and skip to the nursery, only to find Lynn sleeping there. Leni was an easily confused girl: so every day, she would go to the nursery, see the empty crib, and relive the events of that awful, awful day. She did it again, and again, and again. She checked on the nursery every morning.

Lori lashed out at first. Always angry, always teary eyed over something and nothing at all. The loss of her brother tormented her like nothing else. Leni did what she always had done at that young age; watched, listened, and internalized. It wasn't that hard for Leni to figure out. Lori was mad because her brother was gone. Luna was sad because her brother was gone. Mom and Dad were sad because their son was gone. Luan didn't understand any of it and tried to get people around her to smile more and laugh again. Lynn, at four years in age… she was just scared, and it manifested in her sporty, overconfident nature.

Leni didn't do any of that. She felt…cold. When she was a little older, her parents expressly told her not to go with strangers. They told her to fight, and kick, and scream, and everything else. So she wouldn't go missing.

The same way Lincoln did.

The more she saw her friends grow up, the more she saw Lori, or Luna, change… the colder she felt. Didn't they remember? The brother they were supposed to have? How he went missing for eight years now?

But no, none of that mattered. Leni felt a deep resentment, for the monsters that kidnapped her brother. Monsters she never even saw. It sat like a thick stone in the pit of her stomach.

Then she got the news. Her brother was alive! And he was coming home!

She wanted to stay up for him, but Lori insisted she go to bed. She was okay with that. She just wanted to see him, that's it. Maybe better they meet in the morning.

Then she woke up and decided she desperately needed a shower before meeting her brother. She didn't realize the shower was already going when she pulled the curtain. _That_ was an embarrassing turnout.

But no matter! She was determined to welcome this wonderful young man into her home. Starting with a brand new wardrobe! He will look absolutely-

He is covered in bruises.

It took everything in the teenager's power not to scream right then and there in the store. Bruises. Like from a fight. Or an assault.

Now a different stone sat in her stomach, a ball of magma formed by her burning questions. And the answers just seemed to add to the fire.

Why was that little boy covered in bruises? Because someone was abusing him. Where has he been all this time? Just a four hour drive away, into the city. Who has been feeding him? No one, he had to steal things in order to get a half decent meal. Leni paid for the bracelet he stole in the mall before he thought to give it back. Why did he attack that boy for touching Luan? Because that's all he's seen, and he doesn't want it happening again. Why didn't the police find him, and contact them sooner? Because "wires got crossed" and "not enough people talked to each other." A little boy with white hair goes missing, and not a single person in that orphanage so much as raises an eyebrow?!

The whole situation made her feel sick. She was angry. She was _furious_. But she swallowed it, because that's what a good daughter would do. The people who deserve it, aren't here, and she didn't want Lincoln, or any of the little ones, to think that she was mad with them, and should be left alone.

No. She buries her anger underneath the scarf she's stitching together right now. The Happy is back. Lincoln will need this, when winter rolls around. Something to go with his baby blue eyes. He'll look so handsome...

"And done," she finished the last stitch. "I can't wait for him to see it!"

She got up and exited her room, a big, genuine smile spread across her face. She remembered calling Lincoln "Linky" when she was little. She wondered if he'd take offense to being called that again...

She exited her bedroom to see Lori in front of Lincoln's door. It had just swung open, and some guy Leni had never seen before was dragging her brother out of his room, and shoved Lori aside.

Leni felt cold again.

* * *

Lincoln still struggled, and his heart stopped when they stepped out the door and he saw his eldest sister standing there. Her eyes were wide with alarm and confusion. This was the first time she was seeing Derrick, the first time she's seeing this part of his old life. He didn't know what she'd do, and Derrick is packing heat.

"Move, bitch," he shoved her to the side and pulled Lincoln to the stairs.

Everything else that happened after that… it was so fast, that it took Lincoln a second to process. Lori lunged at his handler, swinging her arms and screaming wildly. She punched his back, shoulders, and one thrown hit landed in the back of his head. His immediate response was to turn around, unhanding Lincoln. Lincoln stepped away while Lori kept up her, admittedly, weak assault. She was flailing, wildly, only registering Derrick as a foreign threat in her home. Derrick held up one arm to block the attacker while reaching under his shirt with the other arm.

Then, Leni attacked.

A piece of garment (a scarf, if Lincoln registered that properly), wrapped itself over Derrick's face. Both hands went up to get it off him, but Leni held it tight to the back of his head. She yanked him back, screaming all the way. Lincoln watched on, mouth agape, and in utter horror, as the girls were pushing and pulling the thug towards the stairs. He was in position, next to the stairs, but not going down. He pushed the scarf up over his eyes, finally getting the cloth off his head. Too late, did he realize, that the two random girls in the house joined shoulder to shoulder, and together, they pushed him with all the strength they had. Derrick was still off balance, and he started to tip backwards.

He caught the sides of the wall, catching himself from the fall. Leni, responding immediately, brought her foot up and kicked him in his groin. Derrick instinctively held himself, falling the rest of the way, and tumbling, down the stairs.

The loud shouting stopped downstairs, and when the two other strangers in their home looked up the stairs to see who pushed Derrick, they saw two determined, heavy-breathing, and teary-eyed teenage girls. And one boy looking on in silent disbelief.

The man stormed to the door and the woman scrapped up the moaning thing off the floor and helped him hobble away. The man said something with an undecipherable slur of swears, and slammed the door shut hard enough that some knick-knacks on the fireplace mantle fell over. A car was heard revving the engine and driving away.

The parents then appeared downstairs and hurried up to the second floor to check on their son and daughters.

A lot of sobbing exposition later, Lynn Sr. left them to Rita so that he could call the police from the kitchen. Rita hugged the three of them, squeezing them so tightly that they could barely breath. It wasn't much later that the three children were all sitting on the couch with a cup of hot chocolate. Each one with puffy eyes and taking turns sniffing and wiping their faces.

"This is helping, actually," Lincoln casually commented after taking a few sips. It felt like the drink was filling up the cracks in his heart.

"Chocolate _always_ helps," Lori explained. "It's, literally, a cure-all."

"Except, like, for cavities," Leni added.

The two looked at her in surprise as she obliviously took another sip of cocoa. A witty comment, they were not expecting. Lori was even more shocked with Leni, seeing her lash out like that. She once saw her cry over a fruit-fly being swatted in the kitchen.

"This was supposed to be for you," Leni offered up what was left of the scarf. "It's all torn though."

Lincoln took it anyways.

"You kidding?" he chuckled, almost grinning. "I'm framing this in my room. You are not to be trifled with, Leni."

Leni blushed and lowered her head. "Thanks."

She leaned over and kissed his cheek, making Lincoln blush.

"Alright," Lynn Sr entered the living room, phone still in his hand. "Just got off with the police. Both around here and in the city. They just assaulted us, so they'll all be going away for a long, long time, I think."

The kids nodded, feeling relief. Lynn's brow was still furrowed, his shoulders hunched. He was still worked up. Rita was there with him and rubbed his shoulders to calm him down.

"Lincoln, sweetie," Rita said, "I know I just asked this a lot, but… Are you alright? Girls?"

Lincoln nodded and took a deep breath.

"I'm still here," he answered. "Still here..."

Lori rubbed his back, and Lincoln remembered what she did for him.

"Thank you, Lori," he said, "Leni too. You guys came to my rescue."

Lori looked at him, and more tears filled her vision. She set the mug down and wrapped her arms around her little brother. Her tears stained his shirt. Lincoln did little more than set his own mug on the table and returned her hug.

Her voice choked through her tears.

"Welcome back," she told him.


	9. Chapter 9

Lincoln sat down next to his buddy in class and pulled out his notebooks. Class was just starting, and the teacher was having a slow start this morning. Lincoln wrote down the date and blinked at it.

"Huh…"

"What?" Clyde asked next to him.

"It's…" Lincoln shook his head. "Today's the fourteenth. My birthday is tomorrow."

"Wow."

"Yeah."

A second of silence passed.

"I can get you, like, a gift card, or something," Clyde offered. "Kind of wished you told me sooner though."

"No, it's not that, man," Lincoln waved it off. "It's just… I never knew when my birthday was before. I had to guess that it was in the summer, cause that's when they found me. But now I know my birthday is in October. Tomorrow, even."

"Found you…?" he raised an eyebrow. "I didn't think I was talking to Superman."

"It's…" Lincoln sighed. "It's a long story."

"Alright class!" Mrs. Johnson finally started, "That's enough chatter! Let's open our books to page 312. We're going to be talking about France's Hundred Days."

* * *

After school, Lori walked the mall with a panic-stricken gaze. Her eyes scanned everything around her; anything could be a potential target. Even that child's balloon!

"Babe," a reassuring hand gripped her shoulder. "Remember to breath."

Lori did take a breath, and let her hand fall into her boyfriend's grip.

"Sorry," she apologized, "I'm just… a little stressed."

"Don't be," Bobby smiled at her, "I'm sure we'll find something he likes."

"I hope so," Lori sighed again. "He literally came home two weeks ago, and I have no idea what to buy him."

"Which is why you invited me along," Bobby reminded her. "Guy's perspective, right?"

"Right," Lori agreed. "What are some things you like to do when you're not working?"

Bobby opened his mouth to answer, but paused. His brows knit together and he looked up thoughtfully, holding his chin.

"Uh…" he answered. "I think I'm doing it right now."

Lori sighed. "Never mind."

She grabbed his arm and pulled him along, resuming her scan of each store and shopping center they passed by.

This may take a while.

Lori wondered if the others were having as much trouble as she was.

* * *

Lynn groaned and rubbed her eyes with the heel of her palms. She stood in one of the isles of the comic book shop.

"This is impossible!" she complained. "How do I know which of these are good?"

She knew next to nothing about superheroes. They all wore tights, so… either they were all ballerinas or professional weightlifters. In her mind, every story worked down to: Captain Batman shoots lasers out his armpits and flexes his way to victory. That's how all of those stories go, right?

Well, Lincoln would probably say something similar about her soccer matches...

She was _this close_ to going out to buy a new baseball bat and glove for the kid and calling it a day. Mom can wrap it up for her.

Except she was the one to tell Lynn Junior to think about what she was going to give Lincoln. If she came back with sports gear, she would _know_ she'd been lazy. And…

She didn't want Lincoln to think she didn't care.

Really, why would she? It's not like she _remembers_ him from when she was, like, four. It's not like she had to share that room with anybody until she was six, when Lucy came along. It's not like there was this sense of emptiness before then. It's not like she had to listen to her parents morn her brother every now and then so she tried to fill that role herself. It's not like she ever wanted a little brother to look out for and roughhouse with, and now she's just trying to compete with the others for a little quality time for the boy's attention.

Not like that at all.

"You, nerd," she grabbed a boy by the back of his collar, hefting him up, "What's the best comic here?"

"Aah!" the little boy yelped. He caught his glasses before they flew off his face. "Please don't eat me!"

"Just," Lynn took a breath. "Help me out here. Is there, like, a "golden trophy" kind of comic book, or something? Something rare or legendary that all comic book nerds aspire to attain?"

The nerd blinked. "No."

Lynn growled in frustration and dropped the boy.

"Excuse me, miss?"

Lynn turned to see the cashier had stepped out from behind the counter.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

This… is hopeless.

* * *

Luna scratched her head and sighed. Somehow, she knew better than to come here. A music shop. Lots of expensive instruments, and not a lot of ideas for birthday gifts.

Luan had followed her in. Just as, if not more, lost than she was.

"What did Leni get him, again?" she asked the musician.

"She stitched something together the other day," Luna answered.

"Cheater," Luan accused.

"No kidding," Luna looked around and shook her head. "We're not going to find anything in here. Let's try walking around the mall."

They walked out and roamed at a snail's pace.

"Why don't you write a song for him?" Luan asked her. "I'm putting on a show for him."

Luna raised a suggestive eyebrow.

"You know what I mean," Luan smacked her arm, "A comedy act."

Luna snickered, but then her smile dropped.

"I would, but…" Luna shook her head. "You know I can play anything. I can cover any song, give it a little more flare, make it my own, but… I'm not that great a song writer. I'm not great with words the same way you and Lucy are. I rely on Sam for the lyrical stuff. I'm just in it to play the notes."

"Okay," Luan shrugged, "So why not just do a cover? There _has _to be a song for what you want to say, right?"

Luna stopped and pondered the proposal.

"Do you really think he'll…?"

"I'm sure he'll love it," Luan patted her shoulder.

Luna nodded. "Okay. Google, don't fail me now."

* * *

Lucy would be able to concentrate more if she had someplace quiet to think.

Well, _quieter_.

The vents were officially off-limits sense she got stuck in one last year, and room only provided so much solitude when the twins' bedroom is right next door.

She rubbed her temples and sighed. The blank page in front of her only adding to her frustration. Sat in the far corner of her bed, she brainstormed something, _anything_, to give to her brother. How to tell him? He made her feel… loved.

Not that her parents ever neglected her. They showed her kindness and understanding, and listened to her, when she could grab their attention. Though it went unspoken that everyone in the Loud household feared Lucy. They thought she was creepy. She's heard it all. Kids at school called her names behind her back. Ring. Sixth-Sense. Ghoul-girl. But most often they simply called her Freak.

Even her roommate had her limits with the small gothic girl. Lincoln though… He came to her. He followed her up here. He wanted to know her, like he got to know all his sisters.

What words are there to describe that? What words are there to describe this… simple love that she's feeling?

She looked over to the bust of her favorite vampire.

"Don't be jealous, Edwin," she told the stone carving. "I don't like him like that."

The statue remained silent, and Lucy returned to her notebook. Another deep sigh was huffed into the cluttered room, and another argument was muffled by the walls.

She made her first mark on the page; the first letter of many words, followed by many more iterations.

* * *

Lori rubbed her eyes with the heels of her palms. She was leaned as far back at the wooden bench would allow her.

"I am literally going to die."

"It's alright, babe," Bobby took one of her hands and patted it. "We can figure something out."

She groaned in response.

Bobby sat back in his seat, turning every gear in his head to find a pleasing answer.

"Bobby."

He snapped to attention, watching his girlfriend slouch forward and look over at him.

"What would you want?" she asked him. "If you were…away, for a long time, and you got reunited with Ronnie Anne and your mom…. What would you want?"

"Uh…" Bobby thought for a second. "A hug, first off. I guess." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Geez. I don't know."

Lori sighed. "This was a dumb idea. Let's round up the others and get going."

The got up and started to walk, and Bobby snickered to himself.

"What?"

"Nothing," he waved off, "Just… something embarrassing."

"Aww," Lori doted, "You can trust me."

"Ah," he shook his head, "Whenever I visit my relatives, my grandma, aunt, and mom all pull out the photo album and look at all my baby pictures. Apparently, I had a blanket I dragged everywhere I went."

"Aww…" Lori drawled out. "That's so…"

Lori paused. An idea was coming to her, and the more she dwelled on it, the wider her eyes got.

"Brilliant!" she suddenly declared. She threw herself to the teenage boy, pulling him into a kiss before pulling away and dragging him along.

"Habaduchwa?" Bobby slurred.

"I have an idea!" Lori hurried through the mall. "I know what I can get him!"

Bobby just smiled. His head was blank, clear of all trains of thought, but he was happy to help. Somewhere in there, he recognized that he made his girlfriend happy.

* * *

Lincoln climbed the steps to his room. Ready to sleep the night away in peace. He turned to his room and almost ran into his mother, bouncing and patting the little baby in her arms.

"Oops," she uttered as she moved around Lincoln, "Sorry, sweetie. Lily's being a little cranky tonight. It might take her a while to go to sleep."

Lincoln nodded in understanding. He reached up and rubbed the baby's back under his mother's hand. Lily quieted for a second, sniffling. Then, as though she suddenly realized who the new presence was, spun around from over her mother's shoulder to look at him. The baby's nose was running, from all the forced crying for attention. She locked eyes with Lincoln for a second, like she was trying to place him.

"Look, Lily," Rita leaned down for her to get a better look, "Your brother's trying to say night-night. Can you tell him night-night?"

"Nigh…!" Lily broke into a full grin, apparently realizing she liked the person she saw, if not recognizing him. She reached out, making grabbing motions with her hand.

Lincoln smiled back at the infant and took her hand. He kissed it and said, "Goodnight, Lily."

Rita stood up just as Lily answered, "Nigh-nigh Inkin…"

Rita made a face. It was utter, joyous surprise. Lincoln got the sense that she hadn't said a whole lot by herself yet; mainly that Rita started to dance a little in place.

"That's right!" She excitedly gushed to the infant. Her voice was quiet, so as not to wake anyone already in bed. She hurriedly paced her way to one of her daughter's rooms. "Let's go tell everyone night-night!"

Lincoln, smiling and satisfied, took another step to his room, when he noticed another obstruction. The small thing startled him, causing him to jump slightly with a gasp. Lisa had been taking the Lucy class of evaporation.

"Evening, brother unit," she greeted him with a solemn wave above her head.

"Uh, hi," Lincoln waved back. He admits, he never paid much attention to Lisa. The four year old was frighteningly intelligent, and it made him uneasy. Bullies come in all shapes and sizes. He wasn't strong enough for the thugs and ball players, and he wasn't smart enough for the nerd kids either. He liked to play their games, but he could never keep up with any of them on a lot of conversations.

Oh well, he had a sense of humor, at least.

"Brother," Lisa continued, "I require a pre-slumber luncheon, though do not possess the height, nor the motor skills to craft it myself. Therefore, I require your assistance."

Lincoln blinked.

"Where do I even begin…" he sighed. "Do you come with subtitles?"

Lisa sighed through her nose like an old scholar.

"Can you make me a sandwich?" she clarified.

"Oh. Sure," Lincoln nodded.

Downstairs and a couple of minutes later, Lincoln set the plate down with a fresh P-B-and-J sandwich. It was cut into triangles (the best Lincoln could manage, anyway) and had its crusts removed. Honestly, the end result was a third of the original sandwich, but Lisa didn't seem to mind. She took one slice and started chewing on it, satisfied.

Lincoln sat with her. The small kitchen table was perhaps more for the younger kids than Lincoln. It had four small chairs, just big enough for Lincoln to sit in without being too uncomfortable.

"Brother," Lisa suddenly said after her first bite. "I must confess, I have a query."

"Okay…?"

"Due to our limited time together, and my being on the spectrum limiting my guessing in social-"

"Lisa," Lincoln held his hand up, "Please. English. I can't keep up."

Lisa took another bite and chewed it. She spoke again after swallowing.

"I am bad at guessing games," she told him, "and I want to give you a sufficient present…"

She set down her meal and sighed. "For your birthday."

"Oh," Lincoln scratched the back of his head. "Uh… That's a tough one…"

He thought for a moment. Sure, his room was still a little…sparse. He could list off anything. Clothes, toys, gaming systems, a laptop… They would get it for him, or the next best thing, at least.

"I… really don't know," he finally answered. "I mean, I know how birthdays and presents work and all, but… nothing I really want can be wrapped up in a box."

He looked back at the four year old. She looked at him with an unreadable expression.

"I think…" he continued. "I think I just want… you guys."

The words gave his heart a start and he sputtered out more words.

"I mean, I never really had a family before now," he said. "When I was seven, I would have killed for a real home. A real family. A mom, a dad, a brother, a cousin, or… whatever. Now I'm here and… I have _ten sisters_? I mean, how crazy is that? And you're all such… amazing people. I want to spend… the rest of my life getting to know you guys. And I don't want to miss a single day of it."

Lincoln forcibly sealed his lips shut and coughed into his fist. It was getting a little sentimental in here. He cleared his throat again and wiped his eyes.

"Sorry," he said, "I didn't mean to talk so much, I just…"

He stopped talking when he looked back up at the young girl. Her head was lowered over the table, and an ugly sniff was heard. Lincoln instinctively reached over and rubbed her back.

Lisa was a smart girl, she could understand a lot of things, but social constructs were always a mystery to her. Everything from manners to mannerisms. She did try to understand the feelings of those around her, but she felt that she always fell short of that goal. She took solace that her isolation would mean more time for her studies and reading, though that presented… other challenges. Like anyone else, she wanted to be understood, to have someone be excited for her. There was always Lily, but she gets excited when you talk to her in a cheery demeanor. She felt as though she couldn't really talk to… well, anyone, about the things she discovered; never mind how alone she actually feels.

And here is her brother, expressing his own isolation so carelessly. Lisa, at least, new that when push came to shove, she could rely on her elder siblings and parents. Who did Lincoln have?

So the tears flowed, perhaps for the first time in her young life, that expressed sympathy and sadness for another person. She spoke in small fits between sobs.

"The…" she took a deep breath, "The human brain… only starts… retaining memories… at five years in age…" she wiped her face on her arm, displacing the bifocals on her face. They fell to the table and she continued. "You were two years old… So you couldn't have remembered us… Even if you wanted to…"

Lincoln rubbed her back and nodded. He had shed all the tears he wanted to shed for himself. He mentally kicked himself for unloading all of this onto Lisa.

"I wanted to," he answered, "For sure."

"I was attending a lecture…" Lisa continued, viciously wiping away the tears in her eyes. "About funding departments… How that tends to affect paperwork being filed… I wanted to keep something like…"

"You want to keep my story from happening again," Lincoln figured out, "Keep that from happening to anyone else."

Lisa nodded.

Lincoln leaned over and picked her up out of her chair. She was heavy, but he set her on his lap and pulled her into his shoulder.

"It's okay. I get it," he rubbed her back some more. "You're trying to help."

Lisa gripped his shirt tighter, and only cried harder. He didn't think anyone was listening, but if they were, they didn't show themselves.


	10. Chapter 10

Waking up was a little different this morning.

Lincoln was first stirred by a creaking door, followed swiftly by giggles and someone shushing them. Lincoln smiled, but kept his eyes closed. His back was to the door, and it didn't take much to guess who or what was happening.

"Okay," Luan whispered to the other intruders. "On three. One… Two… Three!"

In unison, the trio yelled, "Good Morning, Lincoln!"

Lincoln shot up in false surprise, just in time for the twins to clamber up and hug him on his bed.

"Where you surprised?" Lana asked hopefully.

"I sure was," Lincoln patted her. "What a way to wake up!"

Lola giggled next to him maniacally and rubbed her face into his side. Lana settled for hugging tighter.

"They wanted to wake you up for breakfast on you special day," Luan reached over and ruffled his hair. "Happy Birthday, Lincoln."

"Thanks," he yawned and stretched his arms, the six-year-olds still latched to his sides. "Think I'll start with a shower, first."

"Alright guys," Luan stood by the door, "Let's let Lincoln wash off the stinkin'."

The girls giggled and ran off to do their thing. The now eleven-year-old got up, gathered his towel, and walked out to the bathroom line.

"Woah, woah, woah!" Lynn waved her hands up as Lincoln stood behind her in line. "What do you think you're doing?"

Lincoln yawned again. Giving him time to respond. "Isn't this the bathroom line?"

"Yeah, and its your _birthday_," she stated. "Birthday girls go to the front of the line. Uh, boys too."

Lincoln raised an eyebrow but was smiling. He'd been here long enough to know that the line was to be respected under any and all circumstances.

"Is that right?" he mused.

"Yeah," Lynn wore an excited, but completely serious face and tone.

Lincoln waited for the "but" to come up, but it never did. He shrugged and took a step forward.

Lynn's arm shot up, halting his advance.

"But…." She stated. "You got to let the girls do their morning biz first. Bathroom emergencies. You understand."

Lincoln opened his mouth to speak, but was cut short.

"You get to use the _shower_ first," she clarified. Lincoln nodded with a knowing smirk. "They all take forever in there."

"Lynn, stop messing with the little dude already," Luna chastised her from the front of the line.

"Or what?" Lynn challenged, beefing out her arms at her sides and puffing her chest out. "What'chu gonna do about it?"

"I'll let Lincoln go in front of me, and you'll have to wait that much longer," she threatened.

"Ooh-dang," Lynn deflated. "That's a good point."

"I will gladly forfeit my position in this line if you all could lower your decibels," Lisa rubbed her eyes, standing behind Luna. "It is _much too early _for these shenanigans."

Lincoln gave a sorry glance to Lisa, who looked back at him with a solemn nod. It must have taken her a while to get back to sleep after their "talk" last night.

"Salutations, brother," she greeted, "Happy delivery day."

"Lisa…" Luna warned her. "Say it properly."

The young girl fidgeted. "…Happy Birthday."

"Thanks, Lisa," Lincoln nodded in understanding.

They day went on, and Lincoln was able to get in and out of the shower just in time to get down to breakfast. The girls and his parents gushed over him and his birthday party later that night.

"Lincoln," Rita called for his attention, "Is there anyone you'd like to invite for the party? Someone from class?"

"Uh…" Lincoln thought. "If that's okay?"

"Of course, sweetie," she answered, "We just need to know how many people are coming, so we have enough food for everyone."

"Oh, uh…" he stammered, "Maybe, like, four other guys?"

Rita nodded. "Okay! That's no problem at all!"

"Oh, that reminds me," Lori then said, "Bobby wanted to come over to celebrate with us."

"I'm so excited!" Leni then declared. "Lincy, I can't wait for you to see your new birthday suit!"

Lincoln choked on his orange juice. Lynn, Luan, and Luna all burst out laughing. The younger kids laughed along with them. Lynn Sr. rubbed his eyes while trying to contain his own laughter. Lori put a hand on Leni's shoulder.

"Leni," she told her, "That doesn't mean what you think it means."

Soon, the crowd of children was rushed into the van and pedaled off to school. Lincoln met up with Clyde at his locker.

"So you guys having a party?" he asked.

"Yeah," Lincoln started spinning the knob on his locker. He still hadn't gotten used to these things. He talked while inputting the combination. "I want you guys to come."

Clyde blinked. Lincoln added.

"You, Rusty, Liam, Zach," he listed off. "It'd be great if you were all there."

"Well, I know the guys would be up for it," Clyde rubbed his neck. "But… We don't have any presents for you, man."

"No, no," Lincoln waved it off, "Don't worry about presents. I just want you guys there. Luan's doing her comedy act, there's cake and ice cream. All that stuff."

"I just feel bad," he confessed. "Showing up to a party with no gifts? Messed up."

"Yeah well," Lincoln shrugged, "Don't worry about it."

There, he finally got it open. He'd been spinning the knob so many times it might be close to falling off.

"Happy Birthday, Lincoln."

Lincoln spun his head over to a passing girl.

"Oh, thanks!" he answered back. What was her name again? It started with a J… Jordan, maybe?

"Dude."

Lincoln looked to Clyde, and followed his gaze as he realized something fell to his foot. A folded piece of paper was pushed into his locker. He picked it up and unfolded it.

"Word was that it's your Birthday today," he read aloud, "You're pretty cool for a weirdo. Happy Birthday, Lame-o. Heart, Anonymous."

"Ooh. Intrigue." Clyde commented. "Did she really call you a Lame-o?"

"Yeah," Lincoln snickered. "That's a pretty awesome gift, right?"

"What?"

He flipped the paper to face Clyde and paused for effect.

"I'm pretty cool," he stated, "for a weirdo."

"High praise," Clyde teased. "You should get that framed."

"Yeah, right," Lincoln grabbed what he needed from the locker and stuffed the note in his pocket.

The boys sat down in their class, their teacher right behind them. While she was setting up, Lincoln felt someone tug on his shirt.

"Hey."

Lincoln turned in his seat to his classmate. He knew better than to hit girls, but if there was any girl in this building who would take it to the chin and take it in stride… well, honestly, it was probably Lynn, but Ronnie Anne is definitely the runner up.

"Here," she handed him an envelope, "Its from the class."

"Thanks," Lincoln took the envelope and turned in his seat. He pushed the fold open and pulled out the card. It was a standard birthday card, with plenty of blank space on the inside for a group of people to sign. It looks like everyone signed it. Clyde and the guys, Jordan from earlier, even that cute girl Christine, Ronnie Anne had neater handwriting than he was expecting. Even Mrs. Johnson had her signature marked here.

Unknown to him, the classmate behind him had leaned forward in her seat; hovering over the boy's shoulder. The view was terrible back here, but from this side angle she could see the side of his face. She could watch him read the card and see the creases form on his cheek from smiling at it. He suddenly turned back to her, startling her and making her think she'd been caught.

"Thanks," he said casually, "This means a lot."

He turned back in his seat, carefully placing the card in his bag. Ronnie Anne sat back down in her seat, face red, and heart thumping.

* * *

Lincoln walked through the front door of the house, with his friends in tow. It was apparent to him that the house was vacant.

"Hello?" he called out.

"Over here, bud!" his dad called from the kitchen. Lincoln's group ventured over and saw him in an apron. The man was a natural cook. He greeted them with a smile. "Everyone else is out back. Why don't you go check it out?"

Lincoln obeyed, guided by curiosity and excitement. When he stepped through the door and onto the back steps, he stopped to absorb the sight before him.

The girls were putting on some final touches. Streamers reached all around the yard, connecting areas between the corners of the house, the garage, and the tree. There was a folding table set up for food, and another line of tables set up across the yard. At one end of the line of tables, a modest pile of presents was neatly stacked at its head. The side of the garage had a makeshift stage, perhaps on behalf of Luan's clowning business. All the girls were here, along with someone who must be Bobby, and a couple of people hanging around Luna. Maybe that was her band?

Lori noticed the boys at the back door.

"Hey guys," she greeted. "Happy Birthday, Lincoln!"

The girls all stopped in their projects and shouted in unison.

"_Happy Birthday Lincoln!_"

Lincoln felt all warm and fuzzy inside. It made him blush.

"What do say we get this party started?!" Luan threw her arms out. "Show starts in just a few minutes!"

Lincoln and his friends all took their seats in front of the stage. The younger kids all joined them too. Luan put on a little magic show, with disappearing cards and rabbits. She even did the classic "saw a lady in half" with Lori (and Leni, but Lincoln didn't need to spoil the fun). She was quite the talented illusionist, making jokes all the while.

"Well, Lori," she said after the box was "cut" in two and she wheeled them away from each other. "You were always complaining about losing weight. Now you're half the woman you used to be!"

Okay, so not her best joke, but Lincoln let out a laugh anyway, along with the others. Soon, Lori was "restored" and she bowed before exiting the stage with the box. Leni could be loudly heard complaining about back pain, and being shushed immediately. Lincoln really had to keep a lid on it then, so he wouldn't break the illusion for his sisters.

"Hmm. Maybe Luan has more ties to the dark arts than I realized," Lucy muttered next to him.

Soon, Luan's act ended, and she took a bow while her audience applauded for her. Lori came onto the stage and bowed with her… followed by Leni, who, officially, was never on stage at all. Oh well.

Luna took to the stage, high fiving her sister on her way up. Her band set up their equipment like a well oiled machine. She tuned her guitar and looked to the small crowd with a smile.

"I'll, uh…" she seemed to sweat. "I'll make this quick and painless."

With a final look of confirmation to her bandmates, she took a breath, and started to play.

"_Hey brother! There's an endless road to rediscover  
Hey sister! Know the water's sweet but blood is thicker  
Oh, if the sky comes falling down, for you,  
There's nothing in this world I wouldn't do_."

Lincoln could help but chuckle a little in his seat. Maybe it was a bit on the nose, but he heard that Luna hated pop-songs. The fact that she's performing one for him? Well, that says a lot, by itself.

"_Hey brother! Do you still believe in one another?  
Hey sister! Do you still believe in love I wonder?  
Oh, if the sky comes falling down, for you  
There's nothing in this world I wouldn't do_."

It wasn't just a copy-past, either. The vocals and the rhythm had its own flare; courtesy of the rocker herself.

"_What if I'm far from home?  
Oh brother, I will hear you call!  
What if I lose it all?  
Oh sister, I will help you out!  
Oh, if the sky comes falling down, for you,  
There's nothing in this world I wouldn't do."_

Luna inserted something of a guitar solo into the song. The kids were practically bouncing to the beat, and Lincoln _knew_ that this kind of music had to have been heard some blocks away.

"_Hey brother! There's an endless road to rediscover  
Hey sister! Do you still believe in love? I wonder  
Oh, if the sky comes falling down, for you  
There's nothing in this world I wouldn't do._

_What if I'm far from home?  
Oh brother, I will hear you call!  
What if I lose it all?  
Oh sister, I will help you out!  
Oh, if the sky comes falling down, for you,  
There's nothing in this world I wouldn't do_."

Lola suddenly ran up to him, pulling him out of his chair and demanding he dance to the music. Lincoln awkwardly complied, dancing with the little princess. Well, less dancing and more flailing his limbs around. He could feel the eyes watching him, but he just focused on Lola, and how big she was smiling. It wouldn't be later until he realized his mother and friends were filming him. The video never went anywhere but would be brought up in future conversations.

Thankfully, the song ended, and he stopped to give Luna and her group the loudest applause he could muster. Luna waved to her audience and stepped off humbly.

"Alright guys, who's ready for presents?" Lori called from the table. "After that, we can get cake and play some party games!"

"Alright!" everyone agreed. The crowd picked up their own chairs and, under instruction, put them in a circle almost to the center of the yard.

Lincoln sat at the head of the circle, his hands gripping the sides of his chair he was so excited. The girls had their own presents sitting on their laps. The boys looked a bit sheepish, but it was alright. Lincoln told them what was up at lunch. They shouldn't be embarrassed.

Clyde, however, was the odd one out, having a decorated bag on his lap.

"Here," he stated, "start with the worst one first."

"Dude," Lincoln scolded him, "you didn't have to-"

"No, but I wanted to," he insisted, "Happy Birthday, buddy."

Lincoln looked down at the bag and opened it up, unwrapping the prize inside. It was a walkie-talkie.

"I got the other one," Clyde revealed from his pocket. "That way we can stay in touch whenever. Even if, like, an invasion or something happens."

"This is… awesome!" Lincoln cheered. "Thanks, Clyde!"

They shared a fist bump, before the boy returned to his seat.

The twins got him some transformers action figures. Lincoln wasn't familiar with the series, but he appreciated the gifts all the same. The girls gave him a simultaneous hug at his sides before returning to their seats.

Lucy stood up and handed Lincoln an envelope.

"It isn't much, but…" she shyly proclaimed.

It was a poem, etched into a nice custom sheet with a golden trim around it. Lincoln read over the words and couldn't help but smile at them. They had her flow and rhythm, and while some of the words used might have come across as creepy by themselves, Lincoln could see what she was trying to say.

"Thanks, Lucy," he sniffed. "This means a lot."

He stood up and gave her a tight hug, which she returned. She went back to her seat with a small smile, satisfied.

Leni walked by and placed her gift in front of him with an excited smile. Lincoln took it and opened it. The box contained a nice, crisp suit. It was nicer than anything Lincoln had seen in person. It looked like something he saw on tv.

"Wow," Lincoln marveled.

"Made it myself," Leni happily declared. "What do you think?"

"It's amazing," he told her. "It looks like… the real thing. Like in stores and movies."

Words failed to convey what he was trying to say. Lori helped him out.

"He's saying it looks like it was made by professionals," she translated to Leni's ear.

"Oh," Leni gushed, "That is _so sweet_, Lincoln."

"Thank you," Lincoln told her, before setting the gift gently aside.

Lynn's turn came up, and she had gotten (to Lincoln's surprise) a superhero encyclopedia. The book was massive, and boasted illustrations and descriptions of hundreds of obscure characters.

"Yeah," Lynn rubbed her neck. "I wasn't sure what comic books you really liked, so… I figured this would be the next best thing."

"This is really cool!" Lincoln was already flipping through the pages. He found the pages dedicated to the Fantastic Four. "Thanks, Lynn."

"Yeah," she bashfully answered. "Maybe we can, uh… read one of those comics together, or something."

She was really trying. Lincoln felt he should throw her a bone.

"We can play a game of hoops after that," Lincoln offered. "If you want."

"Really?" she perked up. Then she shook her head. "I mean… Yeah. That'd be great."

With the two sharing a smile, Lynn returned to her seat. Lisa took her place.

"Apologies, brother," Lisa told Lincoln, "I could not think of a unique or colorful solution for my gift, therefore, I had to fall back on something mundane."

"It's okay, Lisa," Lincoln assured her. He gently took the package from her and unwrapped it. He looked at it in confusion. It was a video game, some grand adventure title he had heard about, but never thought he'd get to play. Now if only he had the system…

"Uh… Lisa? I appreciate the thought, but…"

"Lisa…" Rita scolded the girl. She didn't sound too upset. "I told you to wait."

"Ah," Lisa adjusted her glasses. "I knew I was forgetting _something_…"

"It's okay," Lincoln patted her head. "I know you mean well."

"Here you go, sweetie," Rita set a new box in front of him. "I guess you'll just have to _act_ surprised."

Lincoln smiled and unwrapped it. It was a Nintendo Switch gaming system. Lincoln acted surprised.

"Woah!" Lincoln blew up. "Really? This is insane! I never would have guessed!"

"Alright, alright," Rita flicked his ear. "You little smart-tail."

Lincoln snickered, joining in the laughter from his friends. He looked over to Lisa, who looked at him in embarrassment. He gave her a knowing wink.

He felt Lori lean down next to his ear.

"I'll give you my present a little later," she whispered. She stood back up and address the kids. "Alright, guys! Let's sit around the table! Cake's almost ready!"

* * *

Lincoln yawned and stretched his arms. After a full day of partying, and playing games, and eating junk food, the final guest went home. He lounged on the couch, stretching his arms and enjoying his spoils.

"Did you have a good day, son?"

Lincoln turned to his dad.

"Yeah," he answered confidently, "The best day of my life."

"Don't say that yet," Lori appeared. "You still got one gift left."

Lincoln took the box she offered him carefully. He wondered briefly about what it could be. Was it a new pair of shoes? A cellphone, maybe?

He opened it up and shifted the tissue paper and paused. Oh, it's a gag gift. That's funny.

He picked up the toy that had been laid inside. It was a stuffed white rabbit, with a fitted purple t-shirt. It had plastic white eyes with black dots for pupils. It looked old and… it looked strange to him.

"What is this?" Lincoln laughed off.

"That's yours," Lori told him. She sat down next to him. "When you were little… you would carry that toy everywhere you went. It meant everything to you. You called it Bun-bun."

Lincoln looked back from Lori, to the toy in his hand. He had no idea it was his. He imagined himself as a baby, like Lily, grasping onto this little toy, compared to now, at eleven years old. The toy felt… incredibly small to him.

So much has happened since he last saw it.

Lincoln wiped his face on his arm. "I… I don't know what to say."

"It's okay," Lori leaned over and pulled him into a hug. "I just… I wanted you to know… We're here for you. Okay?"

Lincoln nodded into her shoulder, giving an ugly sniff.

He pulled away and wiped his face.

"Think I'm going to turn in," he said with a cough. "Goodnight, guys."

"Goodnight Lincoln," his mother told him.

"Goodnight son," his father followed.

"We'll see you tomorrow," Rita added.

Lincoln hugged his parents, squeezing each of them tightly. Lori followed him upstairs. She only spoke when he turned to go to his room.

"Wait just a second, Lincoln," Lori paused him. She raised her voice, "Girls! It's time to go to bed!"

Lincoln watched in confusion as she also went into the nursey. She came out with Lily and Lisa as all the other girls stepped out of their rooms.

"What's going on, guys?" Lincoln wondered.

"Just telling you goodnight," Luna knowingly answered.

"Lily," Lori crouched in front of Lincoln and leaned her forward. "You first."

Lincoln took the baby without knowing what was happening. Lily leaned over and planted her little lips on his cheek.

"Nigh-nigh!" the infant said.

Before Lincoln could process it, Lily was taken away and Lisa raised her arms up at him. He instinctively reached to pick her up, and she planted a kiss on his cheek.

"You can let me down now," she clarified.

Lincoln's mind was going blank.

Lola and Lana in unison ran up and wrapped their arms around Lincoln's neck. They kissed both sides of his face with loud and sloppy "Mwah!"

Lucy drifted over and gave a gentler hug, standing on her tip toes and giving Lincoln a kiss on his cheek.

"Goodnight," she greeted.

Lynn came up next. She planted a quick kiss to his cheek, and a swifter slug to his arm.

"Tell anyone, and I clobber you," she promised. It only sounded like a half-hearted threat.

Luan swooped in and gave him a big hug. She planted a kiss on his face.

"Don't go telling, now." she laughed.

Luna stepped in next.

"There's just a… Whole Lotta Love around here for you, bud," she grabbed his shoulders and gave his cheek a peck. "Sleep tight."

Leni walked up next, happy as can be. She planted a kiss on one cheek, and then the other, and then one more on his forehead.

"Okay, okay," Lori shooed her off. "That's enough."

Leni giggled and stepped away. Lori took her place, having handed off Lily to Luna.

She planted a long kiss on his forehead and hugged him to her chest.

"Goodnight, Lincoln."

Lincoln hugged her back. Squeezing her as tightly as he could.

Once they pulled apart, he walked/stumbled over to his room, and looked back before he closed it.

"Goodnight," he told them.

They all waved him off and he closed the door behind him. A change of clothes later, and he was under the covers of his bed.

He breathed a sigh of absolute relief. The only noises outside this room were the crickets in the yard down below. He was with his rightful parents. He was with his rightful family. He had a full belly, and his own room. He had friends waiting for him at school tomorrow. He had people waiting for him when he goes home later that day.

There was nothing wrong with his life.

He was home.


	11. Extra: 1

Lincoln stepped off the bus with his head held high. He slept a full eight hours, he had a hearty breakfast, the sun was shining on another perfect, though somewhat chilly, day. His best buddy followed him off the bus.

"You seem like you're in a good mood today," Clyde commented.

"Yeah man," he agreed. "I've been batting a thousand. Like, ever since I got here, everything's been going right for me!"

"That's great, man," Clyde humbly smiled.

"And my birthday was amazing," he said, "Best day of my life."

"Happy to hear that."

"I think I'm the-"

He stopped as he spotted a group of his classmates walking to the building. There was one person in that group that held his eye.

"What's going on, buddy?" Clyde intervened.

"Alright," Lincoln threw his arm around his friend's shoulder, pointing out his target, "You see her?"

"Huh?" Clyde spotted her. "Yeah?"

"I'm gonna talk to her."

"Really?" Clyde was suspicious. "What are you going to say?"

"Oh no. No, no, no, Clyde, buddy," Lincoln corrected, playing as a wise mentor. "It's not just _what_ you say, it's _how_ you say it. How you present yourself."

"…Okay," Clyde wasn't following. "So… what are you going to do?"

"Just watch," he promised. "It's foolproof."

They went to their class and waited for class to start. Lincoln wrote down a note on a paper, folded it up, and gave Clyde a sly wink. He just stared back at him, unsure. Class started, and Lincoln enacted his master plan.

He waited for the right moment. His target was in the perfect position. Two columns to his right, and the same row. He waited for her to flip her binder open, creating a wall, a target, for Lincoln to hit. He lined up his shot, and flicked his paper football folded offer across the row. It hit her binder, as planned, and dropped unceremoniously onto the desk in front of her.

Christine, naturally, was startled by the sudden appearance of this paper. It flopped itself in front of her and she looked over to its source, spotting the culprit. The white haired boy gave a friendly wave, paired with a wide grin. With a confused look, she took the paper and saw that it had her name on it. She deduced that she was supposed to open it, and she did so while under the radar of Mrs. Johnson at the front of the classroom. Once she had it opened, she read over the words it presented. Her eyes went wide, and she slapped the paper down and hid it under her binder. Her face was beet red.

Lincoln couldn't figure out what happened. The mental script projecting in his head told him that she'd just give him a look with half lidded eyes: the visual affirmation that told him she was interested. But now she's just fidgeting with a flushed face. Her pen was moving on her own paper, and her eyes kept flicking over to him. Was she writing something back to him, or was she just taking notes? What was taking so long? Why'd it look like she was sweating?

He looked over to Clyde and shrugged.

"Can't win them all," he commented.

Clyde nodded, but wore a worried expression. There was little to do but return to his work.

Lincoln did the same, but he was troubled. If she was interested, she'd give him a signal. If she wasn't, she'd crumple the paper up and throw it away or give some sort of answer. She didn't do either of those things.

He couldn't explain why, but he felt a new emotion blossom in his chest; one he wasn't expecting to feel today. Dread.

He watched as Christine stood during the silent study period and walk to the teacher's desk with the unfolded note in her hand.

Uh oh.

* * *

He walked through the front door of his house with his head hung low. He could hear his sisters playing upstairs. He abandoned his bag at the door and sighed.

"Hey, Linc," Luan greeted, walking from the kitchen. She immediately spotted his miserable expression. "What's wrong?"

"Got in trouble," he reported. "Mom and Dad are going to be pissed."

"Language, bud."

"Right, right," Lincoln waved it off. For some reason, he was getting more and more flustered and embarrassed by talking to her. "Is Lori home?"

"She's in her room."

He trudged the stairs and made his way to the elder siblings' room. He knocked on the door and, after she expressed consent, opened it.

"Hey Lincoln," Lori smiled after glancing from her phone. She spoke before noticing the look he had. "How was…"

He walked over to her. Leni was blissfully knitting on her bed, while Lori was texting on hers. Lori set her phone aside and sat up as her brother approached her.

"Can I talk to you?"

Lori nodded and cleared her throat.

"Leni? Can you move that downstairs for a little while?"

Oblivious to the tone of the room, Leni happily grabbed her things and moved her stitching operation to the dining room. Lori moved to one end of her bed, crossing her legs in front of her, and patted the space at the opposite end.

"Come. Sit."

Lincoln obeyed like a kicked puppy. He crossed his legs and sat with his hands in front of him like a monk in mourning.

"What happened?"

He took a breath, and answered.

"I tried to… flirt… with a girl in my class."

"Okay," Lori's mouth flicked upwards for a second. Her little brother finding a girlfriend? That's adorable. But something was off. "What happened?"

"I wrote her a note," he told her, "and she showed it to the teacher."

"What'd it say?" Lori asked. "What'd you write?"

Lincoln opened his mouth, but hesitated. He ended up groaning in regret.

"Lincoln," Lori insisted. "What did you write?"

He sighed and told her. The words were etched in his brain, as the subject for Mrs. Johnson pulling him out of the classroom to talk to him. She told him how disappointed she was, and how she'd have to have Principal Huggins make a call to his parents. They were going to kill him when they walked through the door an hour from now.

When he finished repeating what it was he wrote, Lori's back straightened. Her fists balled at her knees, and her face scrunched up in anger. The only thing worth saying about the note, was that it was derogatory, and inappropriate for an eleven year old boy.

"Lincoln…"

Her tone only dumped more heavy shame on top of his head. She sounded so disappointed.

"That's just…" She struggled to find the words.

"I didn't know she'd get offended!" Lincoln burst.

"It's not about getting offended, Lincoln!" Lori argued. "It was wrong!"

Lincoln shrunk further, seeing his offensive fail.

"First off," Lori pointed out, "Do you even know what that means? What you were saying? What you were _offering_?"

Lincoln opened his mouth to answer, but the words failed to arrive. He held his hand flat out, tilting it from side to side: giving a "so-so" answer.

Lori sighed and shook her head. She rubbed her eyes in irritation and concentration.

"Linc, buddy," Lori began. "The thing about women… If they're _that easy_, you don't want them."

"They went for stuff like that back at my old school. With the guys there…" Lincoln half-muttered.

"That doesn't excuse it, Lincoln!" Lori corrected. "Girls don't go for cat calling and… gross offers! You are _way_ too young to be saying or thinking about stuff like that! You…"

She paused. She seemed to be choosing her words carefully.

"…You would have known that... if you had grown up with us," she gently told him, "Mom and Dad, and the rest of us; we would've told you about that sort of stuff. About being a gentleman. It's not about holding doors open and not hitting girls. It's about respect. Respecting _everyone_. You understand that?"

In truth, Lincoln didn't. He was just ashamed, and confused. He flipped the leg of his pants, letting it smack against his ankle.

"I just…" he begged. "I just thought she was… cute… and pretty."

"That's okay, Lincoln," Lori assured him, "It's okay to give a girl a compliment. It's when she's no longer an equal: that's the problem."

"Yeah, well," Lincoln shook his head, flipping his pants leg again. "That doesn't help me now. She thinks I'm a freak. Mrs. Johnson thinks I'm a freak too."

"Well…" Lori sucked in some air. "there's not much else you can do but… apologize for what you said. And you need to make sure you don't do it again in the future."

"I mean," Lincoln held his hands up, "Mom and Dad are going to kill me when they get home, so…"

Lori gave him a pitiable look.

"Can I tell them I already had 'the talk' with you, so they don't yell at me so much?"

"There are going to be consequences for your actions," she told him. Lincoln looked her in the eye. "Not all of them are going to be this forgiving. You can run from them, postpone them and risk making it worse. Or you can take it in stride and learn from it."

Lincoln rested his chin in his palm. The two siblings sat in silence for a few minutes.

"You kind of sounded like a Jedi," Lincoln then commented. "Or something."

Lori gave him another sorry smile and stroked the side of his face. She was going to respond, but the front door opened downstairs.

"Lincoln Loud!" his father's voice called throughout the house. "You get down here this instant! Lincoln?!"

"Have Lucy bury me with my stuff," Lincoln instructed. Lori nodded.

He got up and went downstairs to face his demise.

* * *

The next morning was harrowing. After breakfast, and a solemn bus ride to school, Lincoln made his way inside. He spotted Christine in front of the Principal's office with a tall and broad man that must have been her father. Lincoln sighed. He'd already faced death last night.

Honestly, it might have to be the roughest afternoon in his life. Worse than any hungry night. Worse than the night he spent in the hospital. Worse than the pain from the beatings he got from his foster dad.

While his parents were putting him through the ringer, Luan asked Lori what had happened. Lori told her, and instructed her to keep it on the down-low, but Lynn heard it. Then Luna heard it. And by the time dinner was served, more than half the table was giving Lincoln a look and attitude that he couldn't' stand, nor identify. Leni's though… her expression was pure heartbreak.

That look would haunt him for a long time.

"Christine," he called for her attention.

She spun around and took a step back. Lincoln's demeanor crumbled a little more, but he stepped closer. But only close enough so that she could hear him. It wasn't lost on him, either, that a pair of burning eyes boring into his skull.

"I wanted to apologize," he told her, earnestly. "What I said yesterday… That was inappropriate. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, and... I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

She didn't answer, just nodded and looked away, embarrassed. Other students walked by, offering stares and glances, and quickly squirreling each other away to gossip.

"Okay…" Lincoln understood. "I'll see you around, I guess."

He walked past her and reunited with Clyde.

"You alright, Lincoln?" his friend wondered.

"Not really," Lincoln rubbed the back of his neck. "This is going to follow me for a while, I think."

"Well, she's switching classes," Clyde offered, "from what I've heard."

Lincoln shook his head. "That's not helping, man."

"Sorry," he cringed. "I mean, lesson learned?"

"Sure," Lincoln sighed. "Girls are weird."

"Yeah..."

"...But that's not an excuse."


	12. Extra: 2

Lincoln picked up the toys, as his mother instructed. He was still very much grounded, which meant no fun was to be had for a set amount of time. His games and comics were collected and confiscated. He excepted the punishment, mainly because it so far less severe than the punishments he received in the past.

He picked one up that he hadn't seen before. A little plastic pink pony. Its franchise was unmistakable, and often mocked on any and all schoolyards.

"Hey, Lola?" Lincoln called throughout the house. "You got a lot of toys down here."

He carried the stash he's collected up the stairs, and into the twin's room. They were cleaning (playing) with the stuff littered on the ground. They paid him no mind. With a roll of his eyes, Lincoln went over and dumped the stuff in Lola's toy chest.

"_Lincoln_."

Perhaps the boy wasn't as used to Lucy's sudden appearances as he previously thought. He could have sworn that the air had gotten colder, and he might have seen his own breath puff out when he shouted.

"Lucy," Lincoln held his chest to steady his heart. "Next time we're out, I'm getting you a bell."

The twins giggled, but Lucy seemed particularly miffed.

"Lincoln," Lucy gritted her teeth, "Lola and Lana wanted to ask you something."

"Okay?" Lincoln looked from her, to the toddlers, and back to her. They looked just as confused as he was.

"Yes," she answered, turning to the little ones. "Didn't you want to know about Lincoln's old home?"

A chill ran up his spine and rest at the base of his head like the muzzle of a gun.

"Uh…" Lincoln stammered, "That's not such a-"

"Oh!" Lola got up from her toys. "I wanna know! I wanna know!"

"Me too!" Lana joined her. "Tell me! Tell me!"

They rushed Lincoln and jumped up at him with arms outstretched. It was like just picking them up and carrying them would satisfy the need.

"Uh…" Lincoln rubbed his neck. When a thought occurred to him. "I can… tell a story, I guess."

"Tell us a story!" they demanded in unison.

"Okay, okay," Lincoln sat on the bed, and the girls scrambled to his sides. Lucy didn't join them but stayed in the room; inching ever closer to the toy chest.

"Uh..." He scratched his head. "I guess I could tell you about..."

* * *

Lincoln woke up in his bed, with the sounds of his guardians arguing in the room down from his. He took a deep breath, and waited. One of them leaves. One of them always leaves.

The door slammed shut, signaling throughout the apartment (and to most of the building) that it was safe to get up out of bed. The nine (soon to be ten) year old, threw the covers off and sat up. He looked over to wear the beast usually slept.

But wait. Huzzah! Derrick is away! Something about… "recreational rugs" at someone else's house? Whatever, he wasn't here, and there's no telling when he (if he ever) came back. Lincoln's a free man for one more day!

He got out of bed and strutted to the bathroom, doing his business and taking his shower. Didn't have much soap left, hopefully Candy can get some more later.

He stepped out with his shorts on, his shirt in his hand, and the towel around his neck.

"You took thirty minutes!" one of his foster siblings complained. " You used up all the hot water. Again!"

Grace was the closest thing to a friend he had. She was a brown girl, with fluffy brown hair, and chocolate brown eyes. She was a couple years older than him, and Lincoln maybe… had the teeniest, tiniest, little something blooming for her. They had banter. She helped him eat. She taught him what she knew, usually on the day she learned it.

And she was the only one who didn't call him Snowflake. Or Snowball. Or anything else that referred to his hair.

"It takes effort!" Lincoln defended, "to look this good?"

"Yeah?" she smirked. "What do you do for the other twenty-nine minutes?"

"Have a mental breakdown, I think."

"At Nine?" she rolled her eyes. "Get some pants on, Penny. We're going out."

See? It's a name that doesn't refer to his hair.

Lincoln got dressed in a pair of baggy shorts, and a light, white t-shirt. He grabbed his hoodie and met Grace by the door, holding one of his other foster siblings by his hand. Grace wore her shorts, and an oversized pullover hoodie, even though it was already blazing out. The little boy she was brushing dirt off of was Hyun. Hyun was six years old, had shorts, and a striped t-shirt with a couple of holes from silkworms. He had a small Transformers back-pack, squished to his back.

"But where are we going?"

"We're going to the mall, Hyun-Hun," Grace answered. She saw Lincoln. "Hey. You got your stash?"

"Some of it," Lincoln patted his pocket. "Why?"

"Might need it," she answered. She opened the door and led the toddler out. "Let's get going."

They walked out of the building and down the street. They made it to a shopping center with a number of stores lined up on the lot.

"So…" Lincoln ventured, "What are we doing here?"

"Well," Grace got down to Hyun's level. "It's our special little guy's birthday today! How old are you today, Hyun-Hun?"

"Six?" the little boy guessed.

"Seven," Grace quietly corrected.

"Seven." He restated.

"And that means," Grace stood back up, "You get a birthday party! And we're going to get you a cake, and balloons, and ice cream…"

"Uh…" Lincoln stepped to Grace's side, whispering, "I only have twenty-two dollars."

"Which is why," Grace gritted back, "We're going to have to try some _creative_ _spending_."

Oh boy. Lincoln sighed. Don't get him wrong, he "loved" being a criminal and a thief. But he was easy to spot, and he was already caught pickpocketing in this center.

"Don't worry," Grace graced her arms around the boys. Both her hands ruffling hairs on both of them. "We got our Lucky Penny, don't we?"

Hyun giggled. Honestly, it's a miracle Lincoln remembered his own name at all.

"What about Greg and Candy?" Lincoln wondered. "They're going to give us hell for throwing a party."

"Don't worry about them," Grace happily explained. "Greg's car got towed this morning. He's going to be spending all day getting it back. And because he can't suffer these things alone..."

He took Candy with them. A whole day without Greg, Candy, or Derrick. Lincoln had to pinch himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

They walked through the center and came up to their first obstacle, a street performer.

"Ugh," Grace complained, "A mime."

"What?" the Lincoln wondered. "Mime's are people too. They're like clowns, but without technicolor."

Grace scrunched her nose and shook her head. Hyun hid behind her leg as they walked past it. Lincoln shrugged and slipped a dollar to the mime's case on the ground. The mime tipped his hat in thanks and continued pulling himself across an invisible rope.

They entered the main store of the center, some name brand market that had a little bit of everything. Grace pulled Lincoln aside and handed him a list.

"See what you can do with this," she instructed. "Hyun and I will handle the rest."

Lincoln looked the paper over.

"This is…" Lincoln balked. This is everything you need for a party. "If I'm getting all this, what're you guys getting?"

"Don't worry about it," she waved off.

"Why do we have to shop separately?" he questioned.

"Sorry," Grace shrugged, "But I can't do what I need to do _and_ babysit you at the same time. Buh-bye!"

She walked off to another aisle with the toddler in hand. Hyun was kind enough to turn over his shoulder and wave bye at him.

"You're… lucky your cute," Lincoln muttered while shaking his head.

He moved through the aisle. He couldn't argue with the girl, his white hair has proven detrimental in his exploits on more than one occasion. Which is why he'll have to get creative…

He passed through the clothing department, snatching a handfuls of a particular article like he owned them. These weren't the prize, but they'll help him achieve his goal.

He scoured the aisles, searching for the items on his list and- more importantly- looking for the manager.

The manager in this shop was a serious jerk. The man didn't just work here, he lived here. He breathed here. So he eyes every unsupervised kid like a warden in a prison. Fortunately, this did do one favor for Lincoln; it made him predictable.

The tall guy was easier to spot, as long as Lincoln stayed on his toes and put his head on a swivel. He set up his traps in spots where they could be easily spotted by the man.

Lincoln may not have many "conventional" gifts that other kids have, but he did have one skill. He could place himself in other people's shoes. He could read people. He could guess how other people would react. By the time he saw the first of these white beanies he's setting upright, Lincoln would be on the first item of his list. By the time he figures out he's being punked, he'll be in a frenzy. He'll be all but sprinting through the store, looking for a white-haired troublemaker. Meanwhile, Lincoln is getting a pack of marked down balloons.

"Sweet," he noted, "a sale."

Now he just needed to pick up some ice cream and cupcakes. And… hey, a chocolate bar isn't going to hurt, either.

He balanced two tubs of ice cream in his hands, and a tray of cupcakes on top of it that rested under his chin. He set his groceries on the cashier's counter before he heard a commotion behind him.

"Terribly sorry again, ma'am," the manager apologized to a miffed old woman. She stormed out of the store in her walker. "I mistook you for… someone else."

He straightened and spotted Lincoln at the cashier's line. Lincoln knew he spotted him but pretended not to see him. He just leafed through the individual bills he had.

"Here you go," Lincoln handed the money over, sounding as innocent as possible.

"You got a birthday party planned?" the teenager asked.

"My little brother's," Lincoln answered, keeping the same tone. "He turned seven today."

"Aw," she cooed, "What a good brother you are!"

Lincoln beamed. All the while, the manager's eyes never blinked, and never left Lincoln's person. He was like an owl, never once glancing away. Lincoln smiled at him, never once faltering from his false persona.

"Oh, honey," the cashier said, "I'm sorry, you're a dollar short."

"He'll have to put something back," the manager blurted out. It sounded like a military command.

Lincoln laid it on thick, bowing his head, and squeaking out "Oh." The cashier (her nametag read "Beth") just glared at the unimpressed bald man.

"Hey Tom," Beth then pointed out, "That guy's been waiting at customer service for a while."

Before she completed the sentence, the manager walked away, ever vigilant in his worthless and meaningless duties.

"Here, hun," Beth handed him the bags of his prize. "Be a little mindful next time, okay?"

"Yes ma'am," Lincoln nodded. He scurried off to the front doors, reuniting with Grace and Hyun. Hyun's back-pack had a little more heft to it.

"Hey, honey," Lincoln greeted, "How was your day?"

"Don't be a weirdo," she laughed. "You got the ice cream? Come on, we need to get home before it melts!"

They soon made it back to the apartment, where the bounty was revealed. Grace had stuffed Hyun's bag with three different DVD's, all were Hyun's pick. Grace popped in a movie and they all watched it while blowing up balloons. Grace had taken the liberty of stealing balloon strings, and tied each provided balloon like she knew exactly what to do. Most of the apartment kids squatted in front of the TV to watch Aladdin with Hyun, but Lincoln didn't mind.

Well... _much_.

Of course, he minded that he lost his breath after finishing blowing into every balloon.

"Come on, Penny," Grace chided him, "I thought you were a tough guy!"

"I… am…" he huffed.

He started another balloon. When he finished, he handed it off to Grace and she tied it off. She started taping the balloons to the dining room chairs.

"I'm going to miss this," she muttered.

"Whazzat?" Lincoln looked at her.

Grace grabbed his shoulder and looked over to the group of kids glued to the TV. She pulled Lincoln aside and whispered.

"I'm leaving," she told him. "Tonight."

Lincoln just blinked. The "Why?" of it isn't even a question. Not even now. He only had one response.

"Take me with you," he told her.

Grace smiled and shook her head.

"I can't," she answered. "You'd just slow me down."

Lincoln looked downcast.

"Don't be like that," she dismissed, "You're young. You're not ready to take care of yourself yet. You're a good guy… And I don't want you to get hurt."

He looked back up at her brown eyes and she graced him with her signature smile.

"I just wanted… to give those guys something more," she told him, looking over to the crowd. "Before I left."

She turned her eyes back to him.

"You should leave too," she advised him. "When you're older. It's bad out there, Linc. You need to be smart. You need to be tough. And…"

She palmed him a small coin. Lincoln looked at the copper disc and saw his namesake on there.

"You need some luck." She advised him.

"…You're the coolest," Lincoln told her. "I…wanted you to know that."

"Already do," She winked at him. "Now help me with the rest of these balloons, Penny. Party's not gonna start itself."

* * *

Lincoln looked at the penny in his hand.

"Are you going to tell us a story, or not?" Lana asked impatiently.

"We wanna know about your old house," Lola equally demanded. "About your old family!"

Lincoln shook his head and pocketed the coin. Lucy seems to have disappeared from the room, grabbing whatever it is she wanted to grab from the toy chest.

"Nah, you don't want to hear that. Nothing interesting happened," he hopped off the bed and offered his hands. The girls took them at each side and followed him out the room. "Come on. Let's get some ice cream."

"I thought Daddy said you can't have ice cream," Lola noted.

"Did he say anything about _you_ having ice cream?"

Lola only giggled maniacally. Lana joined her.

Lincoln escorted the twins down the stairs and into the kitchen. He missed Grace, but he wouldn't trade what he had here for the world.


	13. Extra: 3

Lynn yawned and stretched her arms over her head. True to her word, she spent the morning reading comics with her brother. Lincoln's ban had only lifted yesterday, and Lincoln wasted no time this fine Saturday: inviting Lynn to read with him and planning to play some sort of game involving a ball later. They went through a batch of inked paper books; starting with a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle volume, before moving onto Shazam!, and then ending with a Fantastic Four story.

"Alright," Lynn let her arms drop, "That's enough _superheroes_ for one day, I think. I'm ready to play some hoops."

"Yeah, alright," Lincoln hopped off the bed and followed her downstairs. Lunch was calling, first and foremost.

"So, I have a question," Lynn wondered as she opened up her fridge for options. "What makes those guys… fantastic, anyways? I mean, I get their powers and all, but…"

She shrugged. Lincoln babbled on while they prepared their sandwiches. His sisters walked around him, catching snippets of the excitable chatter.

"Well," Lincoln thought. "I like that it's a family. I mean, yeah, The Incredibles and a lot of super hero groups do the family dynamic and all that, but these guys did it first. And they do it best. I mean, they go to such lengths-"

"Ha! Mr. Fantastic," Lynn interrupted, "I see what you did there."

Ignoring her, Lincoln continued. "They try to make peace with all their enemies. They try to better them. And… like, they basically introduced half the stuff you see in the Marvel movies. The Microverse, Skrulls, Kree, Inhumans, Atlantis, Subterranea, giant monsters out the wazoo! Even Black Panther and Wakanda debuted in a Fantastic Four comic! And their villains are amazing! Like Doctor Doom and Galactus! If the Avengers had the Fantastic Four backing them up when they went up against Thanos…"

"Okay, okay," Lynn nodded. "I'm starting to see it."

"I just…" Lincoln sighed. Eating his lunch. "Sorry for babbling. They just don't get the respect they deserve."

"They should make a good movie, then," Lynn teased.

"Yeah, there's that." Lincoln laughed.

They finished up and made their way to the park, a basketball under Lynn's arm.

"Okay, confession time," Lincoln admitted. "Don't know how to play basketball."

"Seriously!?" Lynn looked at him like she heard his lifelong sob story. "You lived in a city! How even!?"

"I watched some guys play it once, and they chased me off," Lincoln explained, "I just thought I wasn't allowed to play or something… And after a while, it just… didn't matter."

"You're breaking my heart," Lynn clutched a hand to her shirt. "Okay, I assume you know the basics."

"Ball go. Ball go in net. Big woo. Do again."

"I am… going to elbow-drop you." Lynn looked like she was struggling. Whether she was resisting the urge to laugh or hit him, Lincoln couldn't tell. He was too busy laughing himself. "We'll play Horse, then."

"What's Horse?"

"You're killing me, Smalls."

Soon, they got to the ball court in the park and were able to start their game. Lynn took a shot from a fair distance from the net, and sunk it through.

"There," she instructed, "Now see if you can make that same shot."

"Gotcha."

Lincoln stood where she stood and readied the ball. He aimed it, he measured the distance in his head, and planned the amount of force required for the ball to close the distance. He loaded his arms like springs, and-

Got interrupted by Lynn shoving him in the back. The ball fumbled out of his grip and he turned to look at her. She cackled in laughter.

"Sorry, sorry," she waved her hands. "Won't happen again."

"Uh-huh."

He retrieved the ball and returned to the spot he was supposed to shoot from. He started recalculating when he had a thought and turned to Lynn.

"Take a step back," he waved his hand at her. "A _few_ steps."

She held her hands up and stepped back, biting her lip. She was still far too amused by her prank. There was no chance she _wouldn't_ do it again. Lincoln returned to making the shot and launched it. It bounced on the rim and shirted around its edge, before ultimately falling off.

"That's an 'H'," Lynn declared, "You're a 'Ha'."

Lincoln nodded. "Ah. I see where this is going."

It didn't take long before they both earned a couple of letters each. Lynn proudly declaring that Lincoln was a "HO" all the way, and the brother returning the favor when she earned her letters. They both laughed at the utter immaturity of it all.

Lincoln was losing, his four letters to her three letters. If he misses this shot, he loses. He would be the loser Horse. He couldn't earn such a title, not in a game against his sister!

Which is why he kept her at his peripheral vision, she seemed to be doing some stretches, leaning over one of her knees.

"What are you doing?" Lincoln asked her.

"Nothing," Lynn strained. "Just staying limber. You know how it is, us athletes."

"I'm starting to, yeah," Lincoln answered knowingly.

"What?" Lynn stood straight and flapped her arms at her sides. "I'm standing over here. Minding my business. Just take the shot. Lose already. I'm not going to touch you."

Lincoln shook his head and readied the shot. He knew it was going to happen, and there was little to nothing he could do to stop it. So he tried to be quick with it. He sprang up in the air and launched the ball. Unfortunately, the moment his knees bent to jump, he heard her shoes smack against the pavement. By the time the ball left his hand, she had tackled his side and tackled him to the ground. He never saw whether or not the ball went in.

He hit the pavement with an "Oof!" falling on top of his sister. Lynn pushed him off her and started rolling on the ground, laughing uncontrollably. Lincoln was struggling to keep balance on his hands and knees, laughing next to her.

"You are such a turd!" Lincoln laughed. "I had that!"

Lynn gave no answer. She just continued cackling, apparently thinking this was the funniest thing in the world. The white-haired sibling couldn't help but laugh with her. It was contagious.

"Hey, kid!"

Lincoln's attention was brought over to the other end of the court, through the chain linked fence. A group of teenage boys stood there, impatiently. Lincoln's merriment died upon seeing the boys' faces.

"Think you can take your date somewhere else?" the same guy called out. "Some of us want to play a game."

"Date?" Lincoln blinked.

"Hey," Lynn was on her feet in half a second and pointing a finger at them. "You wait your turn like everyone else."

"Or what, short-stack?"

Lynn took a step forward when Lincoln stepped in front of her.

"You don't even want to know, Milksop!"

The moniker was one not many (if anyone) has heard before. The boys looked at each other, confused.

"Yo, what'd he call you?"

"Why'd he call you a milk-soap?"

"What does that even mean?"

"Little dude's on drugs, or something, man."

They trudged away, and Lincoln looked from them to Lynn Jr.

He shrugged. "They'll be insulted with a google search," he offered.

Lynn shook her head and tried to wipe her smile off with the back of her hand. "You're… something else, Lincoln."

"Yeah…" Lincoln looked after the boys. "I'm pretty great."

"Come on," Lynn retrieved the ball, "Let's finish our game. You can retry that last shot. Or we can play a real game."

"Yeah, uh…" Lincoln stammered. "Just a sec. I need to hit the bathroom."

"Alright," Lynn shrugged.

Lincoln, without another word or look, started walking over to the opposite end of the cage, where the teenagers were harassing him from. Lynn called something to him, offering an alternative location, but Lincoln wasn't listening. His mind was elsewhere.

That kid that called him out. He reminded him of someone. He knew it wasn't him, but the kid had "Derrick" written all over his face. He didn't even really look like him. He just shared a handful of physical features, and it didn't matter whether or not the similarities ended there, because that's all Lincoln needed.

He followed the trio of boys off the park, across the street, and watched as they entered a coffee shop.

They stood in line, and Lincoln saw that his target was standing towards the back of the group. The group had already forgotten all about their encounter at the basketball court. The topic of conversation moved to blockbuster movies that had debuted over the summer.

Lincoln faded into the background, and inched closer and closer to the young man. He waited for the conversation to break and, simultaneously, the teens turned to the menu. Each one speculated on some variation of coffee or cappuccino.

Now. While the attention was diverted.

Lincoln's hands were wiry, and light, and quick. It only took a half-a-second to grab his belongings. It took two full seconds to pull the guy's wallet and phone out of each pocket. Lincoln returned his full hands to his own pockets and stayed still, waiting for him to turn around and wrench him up by his shirt. At the very least, he waited for him to turn around and look at him suspiciously. He did neither.

Lincoln stepped out of line, like all he did was change his mind. He got to the door and pulled out the prizes he took. He didn't even look at them. He chucked them into the trash bin at the entrance before stepping through the doors.

He couldn't help but smile at himself. Still got the skills to pay the bills. He felt proud of himself for the half-second he stepped out the doors, before he was nose to nose with Lynn.

He expected anger. He expected resentment, or chiding, or even her making fun of him. The expression she wore wasn't any of that, though. Her brow had creases in it, her eyes were wide, and she seemed to be trying to regain her breath.

Lincoln walked around her, hooking his arm into hers and walking away from the coffee shop. When she started to get a pace of her own, he let her go. They didn't speak on their way back to the park. They didn't go get her ball, instead just walking around the park's edge and back towards the house.

"…Lincoln?" Lynn finally spoke. God, why is she talking like that? Why was _she_ the one that sounded hurt? "Why did you do that?"

"I don't know!" Lincoln exploded out of nowhere. A family was walking on the sidewalk across from them. They picked up the pace to get away from them. "I don't…"

He shook his head and turned back around to continue they're walk home.

"Was it…" Lynn tried to guess. "was it because of what they said? Back at the basketball court?"

"Yes," Lincoln shook his head. "No. I don't know. I don't care! Why should I care? They deserve it! All that and worse! How could they do that to me!?"

"Lincoln," Lynn told him. "You're scaring me."

In all the time he's known her, she had never sounded so vulnerable. She always sounded tough or just laughed at an awkward situation. And now _he_ was scaring _her_?

Lincoln stopped walking, staring at the sidewalk. What was wrong with him?

Lights smacked the peripherals of his vision, red and blue lights striking out in a pattern. Lincoln turned his head and saw the cop car roll its passenger window down. One of the officers stuck his head out. Lynn stood next to the boy and wrapped an arm across his shoulders.

He was so tired, for some reason. He was exhausted by… something. All of his energy just melted out of him. Even if he wanted to make a run for it, he doubted he could take more than a single step before collapsing.

"Son," the man in blue sighed. "Were you just back there? At the coffee shop?"

"…Yes."

The cops looked at each other. Lincoln was so out of it, he couldn't even remember what kind of look it was.

"Would you mind coming with us, son?"

Without argument, the two got in the car and were escorted back to the shop. Lincoln then learned that he was spotted pickpocketing the teenager by one of the baristas. Not only that, but the police officer's car just so happened to be sitting nearby. Lincoln pointed out the trash bin he threw the wallet and phone in after he swiped them. The teens looked at him with critical looks in their eyes. It wasn't fear. It certainly wasn't respect. It was just… disgust.

Lynn looked worried the whole time, but Lincoln could barely register even that. She just stood by his side with a hand on his shoulder, steadying him. He guessed that Lynn at some point called or texted their parents, because they showed up at the coffee shop and started talking to the police officer.

After some horrified expressions and embarrassed apologies later, Lincoln was pulled into the family van with Lynn. Her eyes never left him, and all he could do is sag in his seat.

"Lincoln," Lynn Sr. said from the front seat. Their mother drove while their father was turned in his seat to face him. "I thought we were past all this. What happened back there?"

Lincoln mustered up some reserve energy, diverting it from his arms and legs to his brain. His head rested on the window for support.

"I was… angry."

"You were angry?" his father repeated. "What did he do?"

He thought about it. He really did. He couldn't think of a single justifying reason for what he did.

"Nothing…" Lincoln answered honestly.

"So why'd you take his phone?" his mom asked him. "Why'd you steal from him?"

"…Hated him."

"Why?" she asked, looking at him from the rearview mirror. Her eyes were filled to the brim with wet concern.

Lincoln shifted in his seat.

"Lincoln," his father insisted. "If there's something wrong, you need to tell us."

Lincoln stared out the window. He took in nothing. He registered nothing passing by. They could be a hundred miles from home or just around the corner and he wouldn't be able to tell you the difference.

"I'm so tired…" he quietly complained.

"Lincoln," his father's voice was losing it toughened edge as well. "Lincoln."

"Huh…?" Lincoln blinked at the man.

"What was wrong with that boy?" he asked again. "What'd he do?"

"Nothing…" he answered. "Looked… like… Derrick…"

"Derrick?" he wondered. "Your foster brother?"

Instead of answering, Lincoln shut his eyes, his energy was depleted. He was completely unconscious. They got him home and carried him to his room, and kept an eye on him. He had gotten a fever, and stayed in bed for the rest of the day.

They would have to schedule an appointment at some point tomorrow.


	14. Extra: 4

Lincoln slouched in the waiting chair. He would think he'd be happy to get out of school for a day, but he wouldn't wish it under these circumstances.

He looked around the empty waiting room. The only other person, aside from his mother and baby sister, was a receptionist dully typing away at her computer. Lincoln sighed, his heartbeat hammering away in his chest. He shouldn't be here. He shouldn't _have_ to be here.

His mother, blissfully unaware of Lincoln's internal struggle, read to Lily one of the few story books she brought along.

"Loud?" the receptionist called. "Mr. Loud? The doctor will see you now."

Lincoln's nervousness came up in a harsh cough as he stood up. Rita stood with him.

"Honey," she kneeled next to him. "I want you to know; that no matter what happens, you are my son. I love you, and nothing is going to change that. Okay?"

Lily squealed in her arms, making grabby hands at Lincoln. Lincoln took one and ran his thumb over the chubby digits.

"I know," he absently answered.

"Lily and I will be right here when you're done," she informed him further. "And we can get some ice cream after."

"Okay," Lincoln nodded, not at all enthused by the prospect.

With that, he turned and walked through the door and entered the dungeon of the dread therapist.

Well, the dungeon looked like a decorated office. And, like the doctor could read his mind long before she ever met him, there was a poster of a sleeping dragon in a forest hanging on the wall. What a silly thing to have in a serious office.

Lincoln looked at the chairs set in front of a desk, where the doctor sat behind. Nothing in the room looked like anything he imagined for a typical therapist's office. She looked up from the papers on her desk and smiled.

"Lincoln Loud," she greeted from behind her glasses. "Welcome."

Lincoln nodded and waved. He wanted to speak but apparently dropped his vocabulary in the doorway.

"Please," the doctor offered, "have a seat."

Lincoln obeyed, sitting with his fingers laced on his lap. He looked and felt like he was in trouble.

"Mr. Loud," she started, "Can I call you Mr. Loud? Or would you prefer Lincoln?"

Lincoln blinked. He made a croaking sound and paused to clear his throat.

"Lincoln is fine," he coughed.

"Alright, then," she said, "Lincoln. My name is Dr. Lopez."

Lincoln coughed again, and spoke.

"What's up doc?"

He immediately let his head fall, as he tried to stop snickering at his own joke.

"Sorry," he apologized, "That was on a bucket list. You probably get that a lot."

"More than you know," she smiled again. "I understand you were sick before you came here, Lincoln."

Lincoln's smile and sense of humor evaporated like steam. He nodded.

Saturday, Sunday, and a recovery Monday afternoon. It was Tuesday now, and Lincoln felt a different kind of sickness in his stomach. Not so much a fever but a nervous bug. His sisters had transformed to a team of amateur nurses: circling in and out of his room, constantly offering damp cloths, hot soup, and "get well soon" hugs. The only reason he was able to rest at all was his parents seeing the commotion and kicking the kids out of his room.

The only reason they didn't go to the hospital was because he begged not to go. His dad said if the fever didn't go away soon, they would _have_ to. Wouldn't you know it, he started feeling better a day later.

"Yeah," Lincoln answered.

"Would you like to talk about it?"

Lincoln didn't answer. Or, was it that he _couldn't_ answer? Everything was going so well for him, for the first time in his life, and now he was here. He screwed it up. He screwed up everything. This line of thinking made him turn his head away and fold his arms in front of him.

"Lincoln," the doctor grabbed his attention. "there's something you should know, about this business. It's my job to help people. People, emotions… it's all very complicated, and it can be overwhelming to sort it all out. Sometimes, people can get so overwhelmed and stressed out, it can affect their health. It's not uncommon for patients to get sick after an overtaxing day."

Lincoln didn't answer. It was like she already knew. So why were they here?

"I can only reach so far, Lincoln," she gently told him. "And I'll gladly help you piece together what's hurting you inside. But I need you to meet me halfway. Your mother and father have told me about what a wonderful young man you are. Even the best people can get confused. Everyone makes a bad choice every once in a while, and its okay to get help to fix it. Don't you agree?"

Lincoln nodded. He coughed again and unfolded his arms.

"I…" he fought to find his words. "I don't trust easy…"

Dr. Lopez nodded and listened.

"Back when I was in the city," he told her. "Everyone was out for themselves. And they eat kids like… they eat good kids for breakfast."

He sat up in his chair. "I'd had it," he confessed. "That whole fucking town. I hated it. I…_still_ hate it. That whole neighborhood could burn to the ground, and all I'd get is thirsty."

Lincoln blinked, and his hand went to his mouth.

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "That was... I didn't mean to-"

"It's quite forgivable, Lincoln," Dr. Lopez waved it away. "What about your family? Would you say that you trust them?"

Lincoln nodded. "Yeah. I mean, of course I do."

"And why is that?"

"…They love me." It was the simplest answer Lincoln could think of. "And I love them. They welcomed me back in, and… I'm so lucky that I have them."

"That's wonderful, Lincoln," she smiled at him. "So you would say your home life is… stable?"

"Yeah. Definitely." Lincoln smiled.

"How about your school life?"

Lincoln's eye twitched.

"Uh," he sighed. "I made a mistake… with a girl. I gave her a…. an inappropriate note in class and… I'm still kind of paying for it."

"Any school friends?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "Clyde, Liam, Rusty, Zack, Jordan… Oh, and Ronnie Anne is another one."

Dr. Lopez nodded.

"I'm curious, Lincoln," she asked him. "Do you think you can tell me what happened on Saturday?"

Lincoln tried willing himself to disappear. He was so ashamed of himself. He heard somewhere that the Japanese do, like, an honorable suicide, or something like that? What was called? Sudoku, or something?

"Nothing," Lincoln muttered.

"Nothing?" Dr. Lopez raised an eyebrow.

"No," Lincoln corrected, "Not _nothing_. I was referring to…"

He sighed. Just… keep the answers short and simple, dude. Get to the point.

"I…stole a guy's wallet and phone," he answered. "And threw it away."

"And why would you do that?"

Lincoln lowered his head. _Ladies and Gentlemen, we have arrived at the _emotional wall of shame_. The topic of conversation must go around the wall, or otherwise stop completely. Do not attempt to breach the wall for any reason, or I will cry bitter, bitter tears. Thank you._

Lincoln gritted his teeth. He was doing this. Stop being a coward and say it!

"He…" he struggled. "He did nothing wrong."

Dr. Lopez watched him critically. Lincoln continued.

"He just… looked… _a little_, like Derrick."

"And who is Derrick?"

"My foster brother," Lincoln coughed. Dr. Lopez opened a drawer in her desk and handed him a water bottle. He gratefully drank it. "From when I lived in the city."

"Your brother…" the Doctor guessed. "Would I be correct in saying that he is… a bully?"

"Yes," Lincoln put the cap back on, "You'd be correct."

_We would have also accepted several other monikers. The list is practically endless. And you can't say any of them on television!_

"I see," she thought for a moment. "Is this Derrick-person part of your life, as of right now?"

"No," Lincoln answered. "He... effectively isn't."

"Well, Lincoln," she decided. "I can't tell you how glad I am to hear that you've adjusted so well to this new life of yours. You've made so much progress in so little time."

Lincoln tried not to let his ego swell under her words.

"But the issue lies in what is unresolved," she continued, "you're hanging onto that little bit of hatred and spite you feel towards your former home. You need to work on leaving it behind you."

"What," Lincoln guessed. "you mean, like, forgiving them? After eight years of… _everything they did_? I don't think I _can_ forgive them…"

"Not necessarily forgiveness," Dr. Lopez advised. "Not in the way you're thinking it. Those people… that life… do you think you'll ever return to it?"

"Hell. No."

"Then leave it behind you," she smiled. "Letting it all go, it's not about… telling someone "It's okay that you hurt me" and moving on. It's taking all the bitterness inside you- all the things that are haunting you and keeping you from your family- and deciding that its not worth holding on to. It's all behind you, now."

Lincoln thought the words over, and as he did, Dr. Lopez added something else.

"It's not going to be easy, and it may not be quick, either, but it is worth doing."

She then stood from her desk and walked over to him.

"Lincoln," she asked him, "Do you have a computer, at home?"

"Uh…" he thought it over. "No."

"Well, get one," she ordered. "I'm going to advise that you start a video diary."

"Huh?"

"You're comfortable with your friends and family," she told him, "But you're clearly not comfortable here, speaking to me. I want you to get into the habit of talking out loud, telling the video about your day, what's bothering you at any given time… Anything at all. You talk to your imaginary audience and just vent whatever it is you're feeling that day. Okay?"

"Okay…"

"We'll still talk at the end of each month," she said, "If you so desire. But I want you to email me if there's anything on your mind, okay?"

"Okay."

She escorted him out into the lobby.

"You're a bright young man with a big heart, Lincoln," She told him. "You have two parents who love you very much, and a small army of loving sisters back home. You're going to be okay."

"Thank you, Doctor Lopez," Lincoln shook her hand.

"I'll need a moment with your mother, and you'll be free to go."

Rita, having spotted them, stood from her seat and heard the request. She handed the baby off to Lincoln and stepped around the corner with the doctor. Lincoln, meanwhile, sat down with Lily.

"You miss me?"

The baby cooed in response.

"Yeah, I hear you," Lincoln carried on the one-sided conversation. "Can't believe I was in there for an hour. You ready to go?"

"Ah!" was the only confirmation he got, and she was speaking with her fist in her mouth.

Wait. No, that wasn't her only response. Lincoln made a face as the fumes hit him, and Lily giggled evilly.

Rita returned and picked up Lily.

"Okay," she said, unfazed. "Let's get Lily changed and be on our way."

"I swear she does that on command," Lincoln gagged. "She's a super-baby."

Soon, they were in the van, and smoothly pulling out of the parking lot.

"So, Lincoln," Rita said, "What do you think? Was she helpful?"

"Yeah," Lincoln rested his head on the window. "I think… I'm going to be alright."


	15. Extra: 5

**_Two short stories that couldn't stand as full chapters, featuring Lincoln spending time with two of his sisters._**

Lincoln lounged himself across the couch, flipping through the channels. His face was contorted in youthful frustration. He had a bad day at school. There was nothing more to it than that. He was grumpy.

And Luan noticed.

"Hey Linc," she greeted.

"Hey Lu," he greeted back.

A moment of silence passed between them. Lincoln sighed, knowingly.

"Luan," Lincoln begged. "Whatever it is you're about to do… Could you just… Could you not, today?"

Luan giggled. "Sorry, Linc. I'm going to bother you a little bit."

Lincoln groaned through his nose.

"One joke," Luan promised. "That's all I ask."

Lincoln sighed, sitting up and muting the TV. He gave Luan his full attention. She sat down across the couch from him.

She pulled a folded piece of paper out of her pocket. "I just want you to play a little game with me."

"Okay," he exhaustedly agreed. "What'cha got for me?"

She held up the paper. "I'm going to point to different parts of the animal in this picture. I want you to label them as I go, okay?"

Lincoln looked to the pencil drawn duck. Luan pointed to its back end. The boy played along.

"The tail," Lincoln answered. Luan moved along, and Lincoln listed off the parts as she went. "The feet. The beak. The eyeball."

"Alright," Luan continued, "Now, there is one part of this animal I didn't point to. What was it?"

The answer was obvious enough. He still wasn't getting what was supposed to be funny about all of this. "The wing?"

"Right," Luan affirmed. She held up her finger. "Keep that in your mind. And hold out your thumbs like this."

Lincoln obeyed, keeping his fists together by his knuckles with his thumbs sticking straight up. Luan folded the paper into a flat tube and stuck its ends over top his thumbs. The paper was bent like a giant staple. Lincoln still wasn't getting how any of this was supposed to be funny.

"Okay," Luan continued, "Now. I need you to say that part of the animal over and over again."

Lincoln nodded, and obeyed.

"Wing-wing-wing-wing-wing."

Luan quickly picked up the paper and held it to her ear like a telephone.

"Hello?" she answered.

She couldn't keep the act together anymore. She started laughing, toppling backwards on the couch and holding her sides.

Lincoln blinked at her. He understood the joke perfectly; it was just processing in his head. His elbows found his knees as he leaned forward in his seat. The spasms in his diaphragm started slowly, shaking his shoulders. They worked their way up to his throat, causing him to erupt in uproarious laughter. The siblings were rendered immobile on the couch. Luan startled to slip from her seating onto the floor.

"All that…" Lincoln had to fight for enough air to speak. "All that work… for such a stupid joke…"

The words only tickled the two even more. They both fell to the floor, rolling in laughter. An outsider would see Lori walking to the kitchen, rolling her eyes at the sight of the two in the living room.

"Oh man," Luan wiped tears from her eyes. "I wish… I wish I could take credit for that. I saw that this morning and I knew…"

She fell back to another fit of giggles.

Finally, enough of their jollies had passed to calm down to normal breathing, if nothing else.

"Good grief, Luan," Lincoln heaved. "That's a dangerous one."

"I know," she snickered. "It's genius, is what it is. Pure comedic genius."

Lincoln sighed. He felt much lighter than before. Whatever had been bothering him earlier was completely forgotten.

"Thanks, Luan," he told his sister. "I, uh… I feel better now."

"Aw," Luan sat up. "Really?"

"Well," Lincoln shrugged. "My life is different, anyways. After that."

This sent another fit of quick giggles between the two of them.

* * *

Lincoln walked up the stairs, minding his own business and wondering what else he can do to put off his homework. He paused as the hall filled with music for the briefest of moments before Luan closed the door behind her. The girl shook her head with contempt as she walked away.

"What's going on in there?" Lincoln wondered as Luan walked by.

"Oh," Luan blinked, as if noticing Lincoln admitted to not knowing what a puppet was. "Luna does a streaming service every now and then for extra cash."

"Streaming service?" Lincoln scratched his head.

"Yeah," Luan explained, "She live streams herself playing music and taking requests for music covers. She's got quite a few fans and makes a lot of extra cash for it."

"Huh," Lincoln wondered, "I was wondering where the extra guitars come from."

"No kidding," Luan continued her walk downstairs.

Lincoln, however, stayed rooted in place, staring at Luna's door. The muffled melody leaked from the cracks in the frame and bounced its way to his ears.

Out of curiosity, he went over to the door and felt the temptation to open it.

"Oh, I wouldn't do that," Leni startled him. She had just excited the bathroom. "Once I poked my head in to tell her dinner was ready, and she got gross requests for _weeks_."

"Uhh…" Lincoln blinked. "Were you wearing _clothes_ when you walked in?"

Leni opened her mouth to answer, then furrowed her brow.

"I… don't think..." she thought some more. "Shoot, did I? Wait, no. No I didn't. You shut your mouth, Lincoln Loud!"

She playfully slapped his shoulder and went about her business. Lincoln turned his attention back to the door. He was curious, but he knew it'd be pretty rude to just walk in or knock and bother her.

So he sat there, back resting against the door and listening intently.

He couldn't identify the song himself, but he listened to Luna's rendition of _Paint it Black_, and the song was already orchestrated like a hypnotic melody. He listened to her play her own versions of _Pinball Wizard_, _Hotel California_, and _Devil Went Down to Georgia_.

"Alright," Luna could be heard sighing through the door. "That's enough of a warmup, I think. What've you guys got for me today? Thank you to _lobsterlad_ for the five-dollar donation. Very kind of you. _D-Rumpus_ and _KaptainCanada_ with the one-dollar donations. All my love, little lovelies. Now- um… wait, hold on…"

Lincoln heard a couple of thumps for footprints, and was too slow to react to the door being opened. He fell backward, hitting the ground and looking up at Luna.

"Uh…" was the only thing the boy could manage. Luna raised an eyebrow.

"Something I can help you with, dude?" she watched him scramble back up.

"I…was just…" he stammered and looked to the room. He saw the assortment of instruments surrounding the spot where she was seated on the bed. A camera was hooked into a laptop, whose screen was streaming a video and comments in real time.

"Huh…" he said.

"Yeah," Luna explained. "I'm doing a stream right now. Helps with getting a little extra chuckie-cheese, if you know what I mean." She held out her hand and grubbed her thumb and fingers together.

Somewhere in this house; Lola's ears perked up, and she's not sure why…

"Guys," Luna talked to the camera as she walked over to the laptop, "That's my little brother Lincoln. He's eleven years old. _Be nice_."

She read a couple of comments on the screen. Lincoln looked over her shoulder and only managed to catch a handful of words here and there. She chuckled.

"They're saying you look cute," Luna informed him.

Lincoln blushed. "Oh, uh… cool."

Luna, ever the opportunist, lit up with an idea. Turning to the camera-laptop setup, she asked the audience:

"Hey guys," she told them, "What do you think of a quick little duet? Just one? I'm seeing… that's enough yes's for me! Lincoln, sit down!"

Lincoln instinctively stepped back, unsure. But Luna grabbed his arm and sat him down next to her on the bed. She put up a stand in front of him, filled with pages and pages of sheet music.

"Just one song, bro," she insisted. "Please? Your pick!"

Lincoln looked at her and crumbled under her begging gaze. She even pushed out her lower lip for dramatic effect. The boy sighed in defeat.

"Okay…" he turned to the sheets, "What do we got here…?"

He flipped through some of the printed out notes. There seemed to be something missing on each of them…

"Where's the…" he wondered. "Don't these things usually have the notes on them? You know, like, for the instruments?"

"Oh," Luna answered, "Not for me. I memorized all these songs. I just use the sheets for the words."

"Wow."

"Yeah," Luna wiped her nose. "Probably…"

She coughed into the back of her hand, "_WhyI'mfailingmymathclass_."

She coughed to clear her throat again. "Anyways!" she insisted. "Any song you want! Go for it!"

"Uh…" Lincoln leafed through the pages again as Luna set up her guitar and aimed the microphone. He spotted one. "How about this one?"

"Oooh." Luna nodded in approval. "Excellent choice. Maybe we're related after all. Okay, keep your chin up, read the words on the page, and…"

She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Relax. Just have fun with it. Okay?"

Lincoln nodded. He cleared his throat as Luna began to play. First though, she hollered into the microphone.

"All Aboard…!" she gave a maniacal laugh as Lincoln jumped with a start. She immediately started shredding her fingers on the guitar, as Lincoln tried to regain his bearings.

Luna leaned down next to his ear. "Aye-Aye-Aye-Aye…"

Lincoln snickered, as Luna was clearly trying to get him to lighten up. It's just a song.

In front of- potentially- millions of strangers.

No pressure.

"_Crazy_," they sang together, Lincoln stammered to catch up, "_but that's how it goes  
Millions of people living as foes  
Maybe it's not too late  
To learn how to love and forget how to hate_

_Mental wounds not healing  
Life's a bitter shame  
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train!  
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train!"_

Lincoln looked over and watched his sister work the strings. It was practically magic in his eyes. It baffled him how anyone could learn an instrument and play it like this. He turned back to the pages and tried his best to keep up.

_"I've listened to preachers, I've listened to fools  
I've watched all the dropouts who make their own rules  
One person conditioned to rule and control  
The media sells it and you live the role_

_Mental wounds still screaming  
Driving me insane  
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train!  
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train!"_

Luna backed off the lyrics, letting Lincoln's voice take the helm. He didn't notice until he was already knee deep into it.

Oh these poor listeners.

_"I know that things are going wrong for me  
You gotta listen to my words  
Yeah-yeah-yeah…._"

Luna laughed at how much effort he put into those trailing words. She then launched herself into the solo. Lincoln watched as she tried to set fire to her own guitar. Luna joined back in on the lyrics.

_"Heirs of a cold war, that's what we've become  
Inheriting troubles, I'm mentally numb  
Crazy, I just cannot bear  
I'm living with something that just isn't fair!_

_Mental wounds stop healing  
Who and what's to blame  
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train!  
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train!_"

Luna played them out and gave out a holler. She gave her brother a high five and turned to the chat.

"What do you think guys?" she asked them. "Next big thing, or what?"

The chat scrolled by, fast enough and far enough away that Lincoln couldn't really catch anything on it.

"Uh, I think I better go," Lincoln slid off the bed. "Don't want to overstay my welcome."

"Alright, man," Luna nodded, "I get it. Always leave them wanting more."

Lincoln laughed. "I'll see you later, Luna."

"Carry on my Wayward Son," Luna waved him off. As he shut the door behind him, Luna turned to the chat and read some of the replies.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," she assured them, "Not the best singing voice. I'll admit guys, that was more for me than anything else. Thanks for putting up with me. Now, what else we got on the playlist…?"


	16. Extra: 6

He ran for his life, his small feet pounding against the pavement of the sidewalk. His prize tight in his grip. His heart pounded, his lungs seized for more air to keep up with the demand. Adrenaline kept him moving forward and the wind kept his white hair slicked back.

"I see him! He's gettin' away!"

This gave a small burst of energy, but the panic tripped him up. His shoes, worn down and handed over to him by someone who didn't care, came apart as the sole of the footwear came undone. He tripped, falling forward and tumbling across the ground. The prize he had worked for, that he would have prided himself on and shown off to all the other kids at school, flew from his hands and bounced over to a storm drain. It clattered against the metal bars and fell with a finalizing splash.

The stomping feet surrounded him, towering over him as they caught up.

"Where's the knife?" the boy's latest victim demanded, seeing that his property was nowhere in sight. "Where'd he put it?"

"I saw it, dude," another answered. "It went down the hole, man."

The crowd of boys heaved around the thief, breathing heavily from running for so long.

"Alright," their leader decided. "Alright. You play with the big boys, little man? C'mon. Let's play."

The guys snickered, as two sets of strong arms effortlessly lifted him up and pulled him into a building.

The boy couldn't remember what kind of building it was, but amidst all the struggling, he could only gather that there were a lot of people around. Both on the street, and in the building. They escorted him up the stairs, every level raising fear and bile in the boy's stomach.

They emerged outside in what felt like seconds. Up on the roof of some building.

"You want to be a big man?" the leader taunted. "One of the big boys? Looking down on everyone else, huh Snowflake?"

"Please," the boy cried. Hot tears streamed down his face. "I didn't mean to."

"He didn't mean to," the others echoed, mocking him.

"It was an accident!" another one called out, eliciting more laughter.

"Come on," the leader led the group over to the ledge, "You want to look down on everyone?"

The three boys dangled him off the ledge, holding him by his legs. Forty feet, or four thousand feet, it was all the same in the boy's young mind.

He screamed and cried out in terror. His arms flailed for anything to grab onto, but the ledge was out of his reach.

"How about now!?" the bully called down at him. "How's the view!?"

"Please!" Lincoln cried. "Stop! Let me up! Let me go!"

"Let you go...?" the bully led on.

"No! No!" Lincoln screamed louder.

With little else he can do, he took as deep a breath as he could manage, and screamed out, as hard and as loud as he can. He could have been screaming for five minutes, or five seconds. Lincoln couldn't remember.

The boys pulled him back up and dropped him, letting him fall on the roof. Lincoln immediately started scooting away from them, his back to the ledge.

"Next time you take something from me," the bully warned him. "And I'll drop you for real."

The boy's turned and left him, feeling bigger. Derrick lingered for half a second longer, giving his adopted younger brother a silent warning look before joining the others.

Lincoln sat there, huddled on the roof and sobbing. No one around to even hear him. His breathing seized as he swore he could feel himself falling.

* * *

He jolted up in bed, sitting up and breathing heavily. Tears trickled down his cheeks as he tried to breathe.

It took a couple of seconds, but he realized he was in his room. He wasn't in the city. He wasn't being tortured by Derrick and his buddies. He was home. He was in the Loud house.

He forced himself to stop breathing. He wiped his arm across his eyes and let out a shaky breath.

In. Out. Back in. Back out. Slow and steady. You're okay. You're not up in the air, you're in your room. You couldn't be more safe right now if you tried.

Still, he went through the motions, just like what he talked about with Dr. Lopez. He held up both hands, flicking his fingers up as he counted.

"One," he counted. "Two. Three. Four. Five." He looked at his other hand. "Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten."

He took another breath, breathing out as slowly as he could.

"Mom and Dad." He spoke aloud, to no one in the room.

There was a knock at his door.

"Lincoln? Bud?" one of his sisters called. "You awake?"

"Yeah," he called back.

"Time to get up," Lori ordered, "You're the only one left who hasn't showered! We're going to be late!"

"I'm up, I'm up." Lincoln threw back the covers and grabbed his towel. He opened his door just in time to see Lori walking away and disappearing down the stairs. He walked the long hallway, peeking into the rooms as he went.

He looked into the nursery to see Leni dancing with Lily as she pulled a shirt over the baby's head. Lisa, trying to look unamused by the scene, hid behind a large book. Anyone could see she was looking on at the display of attention enviously.

She would get it, Lincoln knew. When it came to the emotional state of her sisters, Leni was the one to turn to. She would turn around and give Lisa the same treatment, even though the toddler would protest it.

Lincoln was engrossed to the scene enough to not notice that one of the other toddlers ran out of her room in front of him.

"Look what I found," Lana showed the barbie doll in her grip.

"Very nice," Lincoln commented.

"I'm gonna chuck it outside," Lana declared, trotting over to the stairs. She made a full stop at the first step, grabbing the railing above her head, and walking down the steps by planting both feet on each individual step. One-two. One-two. One-two.

"Lana!"

Lola ran out of her room, chasing after her sister.

"Give me back my barbie!" she cried out. She had ran all the way to the stairs, before coming to a full stop. She put one hand on the railing above her head, and walked down the steps, planting both feet on each step before moving on to the other, much in the same way as her twin. Lana had two steps for a head start, so the slow chase was on.

Lincoln couldn't help but snicker at the twins. They were cute, but rambunctious as all get out.

He moved on to the bathroom, but gave pause at another opened door. A feeling shivered down his side, warning him of danger like he was Spiderman. He took a step back, just as a flash of red with brown hair charged out of the room like a one-woman stampede.

"Gah!" Lynn complained. "I almost had you!"

"Almost gave me a concussion is what you did," Lincoln said while smiling. "Like I need one this morning." He turned back to the room. "Morning, Lucy," he waved at the darkness.

Something in the darkness waved back, enthralled with a book on her bed.

He moved on, glancing at Luan and Luna's room. Luna was smacking Luan's shoulder, something about setting up alarm clocks throughout the night.

Oh, and they were all set to sing the highest note from "I Believe I Can Fly," by William Hung when they went off.

Lincoln coughed into his fist and hurried along. He had to admit, that's pretty funny.

He finally got to the bathroom and started up the shower.

"I'm okay," he told himself as the lukewarm water hit his face. "I'm not in the city."

He took another breath. "This is Royal Woods."

He took yet another breath, and started counting to ten again.

It was hard to believe, all things considered. His story has been pretty crazy, up to this point. He was already born with white hair, into a family that seemed determined to grow as big as humanly possible. When he was two, he got stolen away from his family. The kidnappers made some time, driving a good distance away before getting into a car crash. The police pulled him out and chucked him into the foster care like it was a game of basketball. He spent the next eight years in the slums, being raised by the best of humanity, represented by Greg and Candy. Eventually he decided enough was enough and ran away. Then, by some miracle, someone shuffled some papers around while he was at the police station and found his biological parents.

Yeah. It's a lot to unpack.

Now he was home, settling in after a couple of months of some rocky adjustments. He's in therapy. He has friends. And his family had grown to a total of twelve people under one roof. He made the thirteenth member.

Now he was meeting someone new tomorrow.

Toweling himself off, and getting dressed for the day, he met the rest of his family downstairs.

"Everyone ready for Thanksgiving tomorrow?" Rita asked the table of children.

"Yeah!" the crowd called out from their breakfast.

"We got turkey!" Lana cheered.

"And gravy!" Lola added.

"And ham," Lori fed into the excitement.

"And football!" the athlete declared. "Can't forget the football!"

"Well, we could try," Luan commented dryly.

"Girl just wants to have fun," Luna shrugged, talking Luan out of it.

"And Pop-Pop's coming for dinner tomorrow," Rita told them with excitement.

All the girls gasped and looked at each other excitedly. Then they looked at Lincoln, who had never met the man.

"Pop-Pop's coming tomorrow!" Lola repeated to her brother, as though he hadn't heard the news the first time.

"That's uh... That's great!" Lincoln faltered. He tried to muster a smile for the little ones.

Fast forward to school, and the four day weekend was all anyone was talking about. That, and the feast, and the food and the family visiting.

"I don't know, man," Lincoln answered his classmate and best friend. "I just… I don't know what to think."

"You've never met your grand-dad before?" Clyde wondered. "Hasn't he visited?"

"Well, he bought the farm," Lincoln explained.

"Oh," Clyde blinked. "Sorry."

"No, no," Lincoln waved off, "Not like that. He bought _a _farm, and he's been so busy taking care of it with his marine buddies. And he's only had the time to come visit _now_."

He could barely keep himself from laughing at the absurdity of the sentence, and when Clyde realized his mistake he started laughing too. A couple of eavesdroppers, including their teacher, started giggling too.

"Lincoln," his teacher warned with a bemused look. "Let's focus on the assignment."

"Yes ma'am," he obeyed. He put another sticker on the hand drawn turkey they were working on.

"Try not to stress too much," Clyde advised him. "What do you know about him?"

"I don't know," Lincoln shrugged. "He's my Mom's dad. He's a marine vet. He visits, when he can…"

He shook his head. "I don't know."

Clyde thought it over. "Well, I'm sure he wants to meet you."

"Yeah," Lincoln absently answered. "Probably."

His day was plagued with thoughts of a similar caliber. The scenario he played in his head was a crotchety old man with a cane. He was bald and couldn't see, because he refused to wear glasses. He always yelled because he couldn't hear anything. His back was bent in seventeen different ways. He had a military uniform and was still convinced this was Vietnam. He was still in the WWI mindset that PTSD was another word for cowardice. The conversation that follows throughout the evening is uncomfortably racist, demeaning, and forcibly instructive.

Lincoln shook his head, not realizing he just walked through the door of his own house. He must have spent the rest of the day on autopilot.

He walked in, rubbing the back of his head.

"Well, there he is!" a booming voice called. "Man of the hour!"

Lincoln jolted in place and looked at the couch. An old man was sitting there, and slowly getting up off of it.

"Pop-pop!"

Lincoln stepped out of the way as the twins rushed by him, and tackled the old man in a hug.

"Oh-ho!" he called out. "Look at you two! You're getting bigger every day!"

The old man busied himself with his sisters, giving each of them hugs and kisses as they entered the door. Lincoln took advantage of the chaos and retreated upstairs and to his room.

He threw his bag aside and practiced breathing.

"Mom. Dad." He started to count. "One. Two. Three. Four…"

There was a knocking at his door. "Lincoln!" His mother called out.

"Five. Six. Seven. Eight." Lincoln grabbed the doorknob and slowly opened it. "Nine. Ten."

He opened to reveal the angry face of his mother.

"Your grandfather came all this way to see you," she told him. "Go downstairs and give him a hug this instant."

Lincoln wordlessly obeyed and walked down the stairs. He saw the girls chatting away with their grandfather. Leni was telling him about a funny thing that happened while she was working. The girls parted as he approached the elder gentleman.

"Lincoln," the old man smiled at him. "I hadn't seen you since you were a little guy."

Lincoln's eyes flicked upwards towards him. Something was brimming in his eyes.

"I-"

"I heard you've been through a lot," he told him. "I'm sorry I couldn't have been here sooner, bud."

He reached over and ruffled the boy's hair.

"Heck," he joked. "We might be brothers! Both of us have snow on the roof! Ha-ha!"

Lincoln laughed. He stepped forward and hugged the older man. His massive arms wrapping around him in an all-encompassing hug.

"I missed you, kiddo," he sounded close to tears.

"Yeah," Lincoln answered. "Missed you too."

With that, Lincoln sat with him, taking turns with everyone else in sharing the past year with their grandfather. Eventually, it was time for bed, and the couch was his grandfather's bed for the night.

Everyone made their way upstairs, though Lincoln lingered a little longer.

"Are you alright, son?" Pop-pop had a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah," Lincoln grabbed the extended hand. "Yeah I think so."

"Good," Pop-pop nodded. "I want you to know, kiddo, I've been through a lot too. And I never would have made it keeping it all to myself. As long as you're… you know, _working through_ it, you're going to be okay."

"Thanks, Pops," Lincoln smiled. "Doctor… er, I'm seeing a therapist. And she suggested counting to ten as a way to calm down from… well, _bad_ attacks, you know? And I never really understood how that was supposed to work… until I realized I could just count… my sisters."

"That's great, Lincoln," the older man smiled. "I'm glad you're… on your way."

Lincoln hugged him again. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay, bud. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

He left him, going upstairs and getting ready for bed. He ran into his father exiting the nursery.

"Hey, bud," he spoke softly, an obvious sign he had just got done putting the baby down. "What'd you think of Pop-pop?"

"He's…" Lincoln smiled. "He's a good guy."

"Yeah he is," his dad ruffled his hair. "Goodnight, son."

"Goodnight, dad."

Lincoln got dressed and headed for bed. He fell asleep with a smile on his face, looking forward to a massive dinner tomorrow night. Sharing the time with everyone in his family.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten.

Not including Pops, or his parents, that's ten whole people who care about him.

How could he be anything but thankful?


	17. Extra: 7

_ **October 20th**_

Snip. Snip. Snip.

"It's about time you got a haircut," Lori commented. "You've been shaggy since you got back."

Lincoln huffed, watching as the ring of hair collected around the stool. A towel was wrapped around his neck, making a sort of improvised shawl. His eldest sister clipped away, hacking off more and more of his dignity. He never thought much of his own face. Kind of thought he was doing everyone a favor, hiding it behind his hair.

"So what's his name?" Lynn demanded, leaning against the wardrobe. The new location for their towels.

Lincoln sighed. He came home with a wad of gum stuck to his hair. He didn't know what else to do, since the gunk was shoved so deep in his locks that he couldn't cut it out without making it super obvious. He had to explain this to Lori, in Lynn's presence; which meant that the whole house now knew.

The bathroom was fairly crowded now, as his five older sisters gathered inside the tiled room and stared at him, like a pack of jaguars, waiting for a betraying lead.

"Who's name, Lynn?" Lincoln played dumb.

"You didn't put the gum in your own hair," Luna sat at the rim of the tub. "We know that much."

"Whoever stuck that gum in your mane," Luan offered. "We just want to talk. Honest. I'm not _lion_."

She gave a hearty laugh, but then turned serious after a second.

"Seriously though," she added. "Tell us who did it. We'll make it look like an accident."

"Okay. _Now_ you guys are scaring me," Lincoln commented. "I didn't think this family was a mafia."

"We are," Lori plainly promised. Her poker face in the mirror gave nothing away. She added nothing else, and continued cutting his hair.

Leni stood nearby. Lincoln wasn't sure what to make of her at first. She didn't make her intention obvious. She just hung out with the rest of them, happy to be here with a gentle smile on her face. But Lincoln knew better. He saw what the girl was capable of. That gentle face is masking something else.

Lori finished clipping his bangs, forever exposing his eyes and forehead to the world.

"Well," Leni commented. "We'll have to thank him for one thing."

She reached over and ran her fingers across his nose, briefly holding the sides of his face.

"I can finally see those baby blues!" she cheerfully noted.

Lincoln bowed his head and blushed. Compliments were still something he was trying to accept.

"Hold still!" Lori ordered, jerking his head back up. She continued snipping away.

"But who did this to you?" Leni then wondered, her voice never wavering from its fronted innocence. "And where do they live?"

"Guys," Lincoln shook his head, much to Lori's irritation. "Just chill."

"I mean, I'll find out," Lynn promised. "I got friends. My whole softball team can oust this boy."

"It's not…" Lincoln begged, trying to keep his head still. "It's not that simple."

"Why not?" Luna pressed.

"You can tell us, Lincoln," Lori insisted. "I know its embarrassing, but we're genuinely trying to help you."

"I know, but…"

"Just tell us," Luan told him.

"Tell us who," Lynn pestered.

"Why can't you tell us?" Leni sweetly pressed.

Lincoln finally had enough.

"Because it's a girl, okay?!" the boy exploded. "The bully… the guy picking on me... is a girl."

The whole room seemed to pause, the statement taking them aback. The room was silent for a solid couple of seconds, before Lincoln felt the scissors move away from his head. He watched as Lori stamped in place in the mirror, contorting her arms to her chest, and a scream work its way out of her throat. This trigger caused a chain reaction through the other girls; all of them screaming in unison in this tiny bathroom with an echo effect. All of them seemed to hit the same pitch, as well.

_I'm going to be hard of hearing for a little while._

The screaming only lasted for a few seconds, before Leni put a hand on her brother's shoulder.

"What's her name?" She asked. This time, that air of malice had disappeared. In fact, everyone in the room was no more relaxed but the energy had done a complete 180.

"You're not going to stab her, are you?" Lincoln asked her, his ears still ringing.

Leni giggled, while Lori continued interrogating, though now the tone had changed.

"What does she do?"

Seeing the opportunity to get this pent up frustration off his chest, he complained about the things he's been through the past _day_.

"She's been doing all of these annoying pranks on me," Lincoln complained. "And _only_ me." He looked at Lynn. "You know those sandwhiches at school? The ones with with the seeds, that cost ten bucks? Yeah, she shoved one of those down the back of my pants. And _I_ had to pay for it!"

Lynn slapped a hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter. Lincoln spotted Lori biting her lip in the mirror.

"She pantsed me in the middle of gym," Lincoln continued. "And _everyone_ saw!"

"Were you wearing clean underwear?" Leni expressed concern.

"Yes, I was!" Lincoln fumed. "Filled my locker with trash. Whoopie cushion on my seat."

"Classic," Luan nodded with appreciation.

"I mean," Lincoln threw his arms out. "I didn't think I'd have to deal with bullies like... like this."

Lori put a hand on her brother's shoulder, trying to console him with a bemused and knowing smile on her face.

"If a girl picks on you like that," she told him, "That only means one thing: she _likes_ you."

She drew out the information, another tease. Lincoln, however, blinked and stared at his sister's reflection. She nodded, seemingly sincere. He looked to the other girls, and each of them nodded in agreement. They seemed to be holding something back, grinning and slightly squeaking.

"You're screwing with me," He decided, though a hopeful smile pulled at the corner of his mouth. "You have to be."

"I swear, I'm not!" Lori promised, holding her hands up.

"What's her name, though?" Luan wondered. "I really want to know!"

"I bet it's Roxanne," Luna listed off. "Or Amanda. Or Maggie Mae. Or Suzie Q."

"Luna, we get it," Lynn complained. "Lot's of songs with girl names in them. Can you just let him speak?"

Lincoln was still in shock over the revelation. A girl's got a crush on him of all people? "Uh..."

"You can tell us," Lori assured him. "We'll keep your secret."

"Her name's... uh..." he shook his head, feeling only half a head of hair. "Ronnie Anne."

"Oooooo…." the girls all said in unison. Lincoln blushed hotter and brighter.

"That's so sweet!" Leni giddily stamped in place, clapping her hands.

"Dang," Luna laughed. "I was close with Roxanne."

Lincoln smiled, but it faltered as he looked down in realization.

"I…" he spoke aloud. The girls paused their hushed whispers to listen to him. "I… invited her over. I was going to tell her off…"

"Oh, that's perfect!" Leni cheered, clapping her hands. "You can propose to her tonight!"

"Propose!?"

"Can I be the flower girl!" Lola called out from the bathroom doorway.

"I wanna be the flower girl!" Lana argued next to her twin.

The girls all broke out into a twister of teasing and prodding.

"We can shop for the ring on Saturday," Lori suggested.

"I'll provide the music for the wedding!"

"I'll make you a new suit!"

"You should really ask her father's permission first," Lucy suddenly appeared. Lincoln jumped. "Unless you plan on running away together."

This got a round of agreements and giggling from the girls.

Lincoln was glowing so much, he thought he might burst into flames. He grumbled and muttered his regret of revealing anything.

Lori patted Lincoln's head. "Sorry, Lincoln," she apologized. "We're just teasing you."

"So what do I do?" Lincoln wondered, coughing and hoping to just get a move on.

"Well," Lori provided. "She's already on her way over here, right? So, why don't you go take her on a date?"

Lincoln felt his eye twitch. "Uh... What kind of date?"

"What do you think?" Lori asked him, trying to help him figure it out. "What does she like?"

"I don't know," he shrugged. "What do... normal people do for dates?"

"There's an arcade you can go to," Lynn offered. "Don't you and Clyde hang out there sometimes?"

"Yeah," Lincoln remembered. "Sure."

It doesn't have to be, like, a _date_ date, right? He doesn't have to take her to a five star restaurant, he just has to hang out with her. Arcades are fun, and he heard that there was a new dance machine being set up. He'd never played on one before, so why not give it a try?

"Well," Lori ran a hand through his hair, combing out any stray hairs that might have lingered. She then pulled the towel off his shoulders. "Now you have a nice new haircut. Leni, go help him pick out some clothes. Something nice, but casual."

Leni squealed and pulled Lincoln off the stool and down the hall. All his sisters watched him with a notable glow in their cheeks. He didn't argue with being pulled along this mad theory. He just went with it.

Even his worst day here is better than his best day in the city.

* * *

_**January 14th**_

Lincoln was startled in his room, interrupted from his homework to a facetime with Ronnie Anne.

"Hey," he answered, "What's up?"

"Where's your sister?" Ronnie Anne suddenly demanded.

Lincoln blinked, but then rolled his eyes.

"Nice to see you too," he greeted. "How's the family trip? And could you be a little more vague?"

"I need to speak to Lori, Lame-o," she deadpanned. "Let me talk to her."

With an irritated sigh, Lincoln kicked out from his desk and hunted down his sibling.

"Lori!" he called out, knocking on her door. "It's for you."

He opened up and showed the teenager the visual call.

What happened next was an absolute blur. Ronnie Anne spouted something that Lincoln didn't completely register, which sent Lori into a frenzy. The girl went downstairs to get some keys, back upstairs to get her purse, downstairs to grab her shoes, and back upstairs to get Lincoln.

"Are you ready to go?" Lori grabbed his arm.

"Ready to what?" Lincoln wondered. He had been hung up on by the other girl, after expressing her thanks, and he had resigned himself to going back to his room.

He never made it.

Before he knew it, he was in the passenger seat of vanzilla with a _very_ pissed off older sister doing eighty on the highway!

"Okay," Lincoln clutched both his seat and the safety handle. "I get you're going to see Bobby. But why are you dragging _me_ with you?"

"Because Bobby is my boyfriend," Lori fumed, "And Ronnie Anne is your girlfriend! And I am going to…!"

She didn't finish the thought, though Lincoln could tell it was anything but pleasant. Even with this, he felt the need to correct her.

"She's _not_ my girlfriend," he muttered. Lori had let off the gas somewhat, but never dropped the look of intensity she had on her face. Honestly, Lincoln's met some mouthy cabdrivers that couldn't hold a candle to this girl.

"Where are we going, anyway?" Lincoln begrudgingly wondered. "I know Ronnie Anne went to see her family, but she never said where they were."

Lori blinked. Her fury melted as she glanced at her brother next to her. It was as though a realization had washed over her. She still looked angry, but now there was an equal piece of regret.

"…I should have left you at home," she muttered.

"Why?" Lincoln asked as he tried and failed to read a passing sign. "Where are we going?"

"…" Lori coughed. Lincoln stared at her, growing more and more frustrated with the passing silence. Lori tried to turn on the radio. Lincoln wordlessly and immediately turned it back off.

"…Great Lakes City," she finally answered.

Lincoln's heart dropped into his stomach. He gripped his chest as it threated to strangle his heart inside his ribcage.

"Stop the car," he wheezed.

"Lincoln, we can't just-"

"Stop. The damn. Car."

Lori pulled over to the side of the road, and before she could put it into park, Lincoln threw off his seatbelt and opened the door.

"Lincoln!" Lori called after him.

Lincoln walked past the van, back in the direction they were driving from. Lori somehow beat him around the side and blocked his path.

"You're not walking home." She declared.

"Watch me." Lincoln pushed past her and walked along the edge of the road. Cars rushed past them in roaring blurs. Each one too close for comfort. He zipped up his jacket and shoveled his hands into its pockets.

"Look," she called after him, yelling over the cars. "I'm sorry! I wasn't… I didn't realize…"

"Yeah, no kidding!" Lincoln turned back to face her. "You're dragging me back to the one place on earth that I hate more than anything else, because of your boy troubles?"

Lori looked down, and put her hands on her hips. She looked back up.

"I'm sorry," she said again. "I should have… I shouldn't have done that."

"Not everything revolves around you, you know!" Lincoln called her out.

"I know," Lori assured him. "I know. And I'm sorry. Can we have this talk in the van, please? At least?"

Lincoln wanted to stubbornly say no, but he could tell she was trying to compromise. He could almost hear her saying she'd take him back if he really wanted to.

And he did want to.

He followed her back in and slammed the door shut. Lori sat next to him, biting her lip. Lincoln didn't say anything for a minute, waiting for the pitch.

"This is rough for me too," Lori stated. "And not just because of Bobby, you know? I know what that place means to you. I know what it did to you. It did it to us too."

Lincoln looked up at her.

"It _took you away_ from us," she continued. "And when I remembered that Bobby's extended family _also_ lived there… I just about died. You should have heard the conversation we had; I tried to convince him to talk his entire family into moving down here, in Royal Woods."

She shook her head, wearing a sadder smile.

"Guess I was being selfish then too," she noted with a sigh.

Lincoln didn't comment. He just listened; his anger thoroughly deflated.

"If you really want me to take you back home," she offered. "I will. I'm sorry for dragging you out this far without even asking.

"But," she then offered. "I think this is another opportunity for you."

Lincoln jerked his head up at her.

"Hear me out," she held up a hand. "You spent eight years on the north side of Great Lakes. You've ever been to the south end?"

Lincoln thought about it.

"…Couple times," he shrugged.

"It's the nicer part of the city," Lori explained. "Bobby told me about it. It's where his family lives. _If_ you decide to come with me- which is totally up to you- It's likely that you'll never see that old neighborhood you told me about. We'll just go there… visit, I guess, and leave. It'll be like you were never there at all."

Lincoln lowered his gaze, thinking about it.

"But the van doesn't move, until you say so," Lori declared. "That's a promise."

Lincoln's eyes rested on the dashboard. He gave it an honest bit of thought. He remembered a conversation he had with Dr. Lopez. There are good people, and there are bad people, the problem is that they're scattered everywhere.

Lincoln took in a deep breath, and sighed.

_It'd be nice to invade Ronnie Anne's place for a change_, Lincoln thought silently, _Instead of her always invading mine_.

"Let's…" he took another breath. "Let's go talk to Bobby, and see what's going on."

Lori nodded. "Okay," she answered, shifting the gear on the van. "We're on our way."

* * *

The city grew into view on the horizon, and all too soon they crossed the threshold into Great Lakes without incident.

Looking back on the place, Lincoln's imagination painted it like Gotham city. Some hellscape with a drugstore being robbed across from the alley that sells needles. Or just some awful place that encompassed the border of town like a bubble. Lincoln had held his breath as long as he could when they were driving through. Even when he finally had to start breathing again; it came in shallow breaths.

"You okay?" Lori asked without taking her eyes off the road. Lincoln blinked at her and nodded.

_Let's just get this over with._

The pulled up on a sidewalk of an apartment building. The bottom corner of the building was a small grocery store, and a separate entrance led to the housing levels of the building.

Lori was already out of the car, having ripped the keys out and abandoning her purse. Lincoln took the bag and shoved it under his seat, not really checking to see if it was hidden, because he was more focused on chasing after his sister.

"Lori!" Lincoln called after her. She paused and waited for him to catch up. "You can't just-"

Lincoln felt a chill as he looked around and noticed a group of guys on the far corner of the block. They were all talking and laughing, shoving each other around.

"I know," Lori assured her brother. "I've been here before."

Lincoln looked up at his sister and she gave a small sigh.

"Why don't you go see Ronnie Anne?" Lori suggested. "I'm going to… have a talk… calmly… with Bobby. His family lives on the fourth floor, all the way to the top."

With that, Lori stormed her way into the bodega, an innocent ringing of the bell to announce a customer.

And with that, Lincoln was left to his own devices.

_Hey, Snowball! Where're you going?_

Lincoln's breathing hitched, and he scrambled to the door and slammed it shut behind him. He took a shaky breath.

_Lincoln, are you aware of the term Agoraphobia?_

_I think I recently got a shot for that. _

_It's a phobia, a fear, of a particular environment. Usually without reason. You claim to hate the city, but is there a possibility that you might be afraid of it?_

…

Lincoln took a deep breath, counted to ten, and looked around the lobby. Well, less of a lobby and just a stairway going up. There was an index next to the door, and he tried to read it over, but his brain was so frazzled he couldn't absorb the information labeled on it.

"Fourth floor," Lincoln remembered, and climbed the stairs.

He soon entered the hallway, hearing a lot of yelling. At first, he thought it was an argument, but the two or three women involved were just sharing information.

"Frida?" a woman called out. "I still can't find it. Can you check your pouches again?"

"I keep telling you," the other woman answered, "It's not in my pencil- Oh. Never mind! I found it!"

The two women met in the hallway, one sheepishly handing the camera off to the other. Lincoln recognized one of them as Ronnie Anne's mother.

"Oh, hello," the woman noticed Lincoln. "Wait. Aren't you Ronnie's friend?"

"Uh," Lincoln awkwardly waved. "Hi. Is, uh, Ronnie Anne here?"

Upon hearing her name, the girl appeared in the hallway with wide eyes and an urgent look.

"Lincoln!" she called out. She ran down the hallway and assaulted him with a hug. "Ugh. Thank god you're here. Where's Lori?"

"She's talking to Bobby right now."

"Good," Ronnie nodded. "She'll turn him over to our side, and then we can make the case to mom."

"Ronnie?" her mother approached them. "It's rude not to introduce your friends."

"Does Ronnie Anne have a friend over?" an elderly woman called out. "Bring them in! We can eat!"

"Ugh, fine," Ronnie Anne dragged the hapless boy into the room. A crowd of new people followed them into the room. "Lincoln, this is my family. You know my Mom, Maria. These are my grandparents; Abuelo and Abuela, Hector and Rosa. That's my aunt and uncle, Carlos and Frida Casagrande. These are their kids, my cousins: Carlotta, CJ, Carlino, and Carlitos. Oh, and that's Sergei and Lolo. Everyone, this is Lincoln."

"Your boyfriend?" Frida suggested with obvious glee.

The two kids denied it outright in the same breath.

"He's not my boyfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend."

Ronnie Anne had talked so fast it took a second for Lincoln to process it all. It was a big family, certainly big enough to rival the Louds in numbers. With a noisy parrot and a big guard dog to boot. Both are useful for something like a home invasion.

Lincoln coughed into his fist.

"Uh," Lincoln spoke first, "It's nice to meet you all, but I-"

"Have we met before?" Hector then suggested. "I could've sword I've seen you somewhere before."

Lincoln stared at the older fellow with wide eyes. All the memories of people he's stolen wallets from or tripped up while running away, or otherwise inconvenienced while surviving began bubbling up to the surface of his mind. He didn't recognize any of them, but the possibility was there.

"…I kind of hope not," he answered honestly.

"No, no," Rosa then added, "I think I know you from somewhere too. Where have we seen you?"

Lincoln shuddered, as he realized all the eyes in the room were on him. He looked over to his friend, who was also looking at him strangely.

He gulped, sweat running down the back of his neck. He had to give them a bite if they were going to leave the subject alone.

"I… use to live here," he offered.

"Here in the city?" Ronnie Anne wondered. Then her eyes went wide, as she remembered what the boy had told her.

"That's what it was!" Hector bombastically answered. "You were at the sandwich shop at second and third?"

Lincoln blinked. He allowed for half a smile.

"Best grinders in the city," Lincoln answered back. "Sometimes those were the best part of my day."

"Ah, you're a man of great taste, my friend!" Hector laughed. "Do you get everything on it? Sauerkraut, toasted tomatoes?"

"That's the only way to do it, man," Lincoln laughed.

The family laughed around him. Some of the girls rolling their eyes at something so trivial.

"Okay," Ronnie Anne tugged on the boy's arm. "Linc and I have to go take care of something. We'll be right back."

"Take your time!" Frida suggested waving them off.

The two skirted off to the hallway and down the stairs.

"I'm…" Ronnie shook her head.

"It's okay," Lincoln brushed it off. Though, admittedly he didn't want to hear it. It came out a tad more aggressive than he meant to. "Now will you tell me what this is all about?"

They stopped in the stairway and faced each other.

"My mom wants us to move here," she explained, "but I can't just… I just can't."

"Why not?"

"Because… you saw what I was dealing with in there," she complained. "So many people in… such a small space."

"Long bathroom lines?"

"Yeah!"

"No personal space? No peace and quiet?"

"Yeah, yeah!" Ronnie Anne agreed. "You'd you-?"

Then it dawned on her.

"Oh. Right. Sorry."

Lincoln sighed and shook his head.

"Look," he said, "I'm not an expert on stuff like this. But isn't getting a bigger family… like, a _good_ thing?"

She looked down, thinking.

"I told you I was missing since this past year," he told her. "During that time, I had no idea what family I had. I would have _killed_ to have… this." He waved and arm at the building around them. "And… your family seems really… cool."

Ronnie Anne looked up at him uncertainly.

"So… maybe just give it a chance?"

Ronnie Anne thought it over a few more seconds. Then, she sighed.

"Well," she rubbed the back of her head. "I guess I should go help Bobby, huh?"

Lincoln nodded. "Yeah… Lori might have killed him already."

The two of them hurried down to the bodega, bursting outside to see the two teens hugging it out on the street.

"What happened?" Ronnie asked as the two pulled away.

"Well," Lori knelt down to her level. "Turns out, Bobby put a bit more thought into this than I gave him credit for. While he's working here, he gets to spend more time with you and your family. And I'm not going to be able to see him for a while, but we can go to the college your uncle teaches at. All this… it's for you."

Ronnie Anne was speechless. The truth being, the girl had a lonely upbringing for the past couple of years. Both her mom and her brother working tirelessly night and day. And when Bobby wasn't talking to Lori or working on schoolwork, he was sleeping. She knew he still loved her endlessly. He's the only one she'll let call her by her nickname.

"Ronnie Anne!" Maria called from the upper windows. "Come upstairs! We have a surprise for you!"

Back up in the apartment, Lincoln followed his friend to a familiar scene: the unveiling of a brand-new room. The girl walked in, seeing a cramped space, but ultimately personalized to her tastes. It even had a minifridge in the corner, and a collage of pictures against the wall over her bed.

Lori wrapped an arm around Lincoln's shoulder.

"You going to be okay?" she asked in a hushed tone.

"She's moving away," Lincoln sighed with the realization.

"Yeah…" Lori agreed. "It kind of sucks, doesn't it?"

"Yeah," Lincoln took a deep breath. He watched as the girl threw herself to a wall of people, who huddled around her in a loving embrace. "She needs this, though."

Lori nodded.

"We can visit them," Lori suggested. "And you can keep in touch."

Lincoln nodded.

"I'm still going to miss her," he stated.

"I know," Lori sympathized. "I am too."

The group hug was starting to disperse.

"Let's keep a stiff upper lip for now, though," His sister instructed. "Let's be happy for them."

"Yeah," Lincoln coughed. "Okay."

The Casagrandes invited them to stay for dinner before heading out. Ronnie Anne gave him a genuine hug that lasted a few minutes.

"You're coming back, right?"

"Of course," Lincoln answered. "We're friends, right?"

"Yeah," she looked away. "Stay safe, lame-o."

"You stay safe," he told her with a laugh.

The family waved them off and saw them on their way. The drive home was quiet, though some sniffs and nose blowing filled the silence. They didn't acknowledge the sadness between them, but they both understood it. They ended up pulling into the driveway as the clock closed in on midnight.

"Linc?" Lori said as the boy was ready to climb the stairs. "Thanks for coming along with me."

She walked over and gave him a big hug. She kissed his cheek.

"I know this is rough for you too," she sympathized.

"I'll be fine," he promised her. He hugged her back, squeezing her tightly.

After they broke the embrace, they climbed the stairs together.

"Mom and Dad are going to kill me tomorrow," Lori sighed. "Running off like that."

"You can tell them I kidnapped you," Lincoln joked, but something occurred to him as he got to the top step.

"What's wrong?" Lori wondered.

"Oh…!" _No cursing in the house_. "…Dang it. I forgot about my homework."

Lori hissed in sympathy, and promised to help him with it tomorrow.


End file.
